Ranma: King Of Storms
by Gundraw
Summary: Chapter 10 ready for your reading enjoyment! Ranma is the last senshi with the power to control the elements. RanmaSM fic. RR Please!
1. Chapter 1

Ranma 1/2: The King of Storms  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ranma or Sailor Moon. I wrote this for fun and do not intend to make profits from it.  
  
"----" speech  
  
'----' thoughts  
  
ALRIGHT IM SORRY FOR A LITTLE BIT OF PLAGARISM BUT I CHANGED THE STORY NOW FOR GOD'S SAKES. Ok, with all the fanfics I've been reading recently I figured; why not make one that seems right to me? So I did. This is a Ranma/Sailor Moon fic concentrating on Ranma, but the others will all be heavily involved too. He might act a little OOC, but that's only because he starts acting like he did in his previous life. And just to warn you NO THIS IS NOT A SAILOR RANKO/FEMALE RANMA SENSHI FIC. He is a guy. And a guy he remains. And with that said...  
  
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He stood, preparing for the things to come.  
  
The palace around him stood in ruins. Thousands of bodies littered the floor, as well as craters and rubble.  
  
He wore pearly white armor, giving him a very respectable look, and the look of a warrior. Gold engravings were made in the armor, of a dragon coiling itself around the body of the armor. He wore a cape, of midnight black, that flowed in the wind. Rips, tears, and holes littered it. It was a clash, the white armor and the black cape. The armor had no sleeves. It covered his legs and his chest, allowing free arm and head movement. He did, however, have a pair of bracers around his wrists. They were a combination of several different substances. Mostly sapphire, onyx, hematite, and silver. Despite the difference in the appearance and composition of the materials, they were crafted so well it was nigh impossible to tell where one substance ended and the other began, It just changed without warning. The blended into waves, making them look like an ocean at different stages of a storm, depending on the angle on looked at it. His eyes were the same startling blue-gray that was obviously a rare eye color. He had loose, black hair that was minimally maintained. In the back, it was tied into a pigtail that reached to his upper back. The most startling thing about his appearance though, was the crescent moon on his forehead. It started as a yellowish-gold in the center, but slowly darkened to a deep black once it reached the tips.  
  
The door in front of him suddenly lurched forward, with a loud crashing and creaking sound. He had to protect his queen and the senshi at all costs. He may be one of them, but he was outcasted, feared. "Take the hidden passageway behind the throne, now!!"  
  
"But..." The queen started.  
  
"No buts GO NOW! You are more important than I am; just take the senshi and leave!!"  
  
One of the young girls started crying, "But we don't want to leave you!"  
  
The door lurched forward again, creaking louder.  
  
"There is no time! Just GO!! I'll hold them off long enough for you to go, don't make me say it again!"  
  
Serenity nodded silently, and ushered the reluctant senshi through the passage, and proceeded down the hall.  
  
The door lurched again, but this time it didn't hold. As the door splintered, a surge of black figures came rushing through the door.  
  
He knew he couldn't win. There was a countless number of them, and only one of him. He couldn't win, but he could stall them. He rushed at them, moving faster than the eye could see, only flashes of white and black showed that he was actually in the room. He ducked, weaved, punched, and kicked, knocking out the demons that disintegrated after they died. His effort was in vain though. Even though he was the most powerful fighter in the universe, with unmatched skill in magic and combat, more powerful than the other senshi combined, every warrior has their limits. In this case, it came close to 4,000. He lost count around there. They surrounded him, and swarmed him. They were getting hits in despite his speed and evasiveness. The end was near. His end at least. He had one choice left, for his honor and duty, to protect the queen. He raised his hand a couple of inches from his face and spread his fingers.  
  
"HURRICANE CYCLONE!"  
  
The senshi froze with the queen in the passage. They had all felt the surge of their friend's power, then fade out of existence.  
  
"Ranma..." The queen muttered, tears in her eyes. Yes, he was an abomination, created illegally, but he was loyal to the bone. But the others didn't see him that way. They feared him. Much more than they ever feared Saturn. She knew she was partly to blame for this, but it hurt no less.  
  
It was a bad place to freeze. The monsters surrounding them swarmed, apparently, someone had known of the queen's secret passage. The monsters first took out the senshi, but not without a price. They lost many, but still had many more. With the senshi dispatched, the attackers turned to the queen. Her end had come. But maybe the senshi could go on... She began to cast the spell, using all of the Silver Crystal's power. It would transport the senshi's souls to the future, to carry on her dream, and also to banish the evil that caused this. She made sure she had all the soul's, including the one people feared, and sent them forward. Just as she finished the spell, the darkness enveloped her.  
  
"QUEEN SERENITY!!" Ranma had awakened in a cold sweat.  
  
He had had these dreams all week. Slowly, more and more of the dream had been revealed, and in more detail. This was the first night he had seen how it had finished. Every time he slept, he had this dream, and every time he was less and less sure it was a dream, but more of a memory. The detail was uncanny, and most of the time dreams weren't as detailed, and couldn't be remembered so easily. What made it more convincing was that Serenity person had called his name. Whoever she was. He paused and listened to see if he woke anybody up. Silence met his straining ears. Good. He got up to look out the window, but tripped on something on the floor. Odd, he never left anything on the floor, neither did his dad. He had hardly any possessions anyway, and what little he did own he kept in his pack. He bent over and picked up the item he tripped on. No, items. There were two of them. He walked over to the window, and let the items bathe in the moonlight. His heart stopped. His eyes widened. His breath halted. They were the bracers. From his dream. They shimmered in the moonlight, the eerie glow of the moon made it look like it was waves crashing over the surface of the two pieces of armor. He looked up at the moon. It looked like... home. It hade been looking like that for the past week. He felt like even though he had never seen these bracer's before, they completed him. They were part of him. He snapped them on, and after he did so, the seam on them molded into itself, fading away, giving him no way of removing them. But he didn't care; it felt like he had a piece of himself back. The urge to sleep came back soon after, and Ranma returned to the futon, and fell into a deep sleep.  
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Setsuna smiled. She was monitoring the present from the time gate when she noticed it. The soul Serenity sent forward that is.  
  
"So, it appears as if the King of Storms will awaken once more. I should pay him a visit, soon. Or he could come visit me... because after all, if he's as he once was, we may have a bigger problem than Saturn."  
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Usagi woke up. She just had the strangest dream. She was on the moon, she knew because she could see the earth in the sky, and she was back in the Silver Millennium. She was walking through the palace, following the sound of a flute being played. There was no song behind the notes, only pure emotion it seemed. She followed the sounds into a courtyard, where in a tree sat a boy, no more than a year or two older than her. He was playing a flute that was silver, with a gold dragon etched into the surface. The dragon's eyes were sapphire, and its claws were ruby. The teeth were diamond, but it wasn't the valuable gems that entranced her. It was the music that came to her ears. As she got closer, the music became more and more clear, until she arrived at the base of the tree and sat down, enraptured by the music. It made her relax, and think more of the things that went on around her, Usagi closed her eyes, the music was so soothing, and yet so awakening. The music stopped abruptly, too soon Usagi thought as she reluctantly looked up. She finally got a good look at the musician, he looked down at her and she looked up at him. The deep blue-gray eyes and finely toned body he had made Usagi turn red. "Hello Princess, did you enjoy that?" He said gently and smiled at her. That was when she woke up. She decided that a senshi meeting needed to take place so she could tell Rei about her dream. Was it a dream? He called her princess after all. She wrote a note down on a pad of paper to remind her in the morning, and quickly fell back asleep.  
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Akane woke up rather abruptly when a ray of light struck her face. She groaned, and rolled over. The wrong way. She rolled off her bed, and land with a thump. She silently cursed the sun and rise and quickly dressed in her school uniform. Akane just remembered, that today they got their test scores back that determined if they moved up a grade or not. Some kids were happy about this, others feared it. Akane was the former. She had worked hard all year, and was sure she would easily pass to the next, and final, grade of school. She rushed downstairs. She wanted to eat and leave, she couldn't be late so she didn't bother waking Ranma up.  
  
"Hey Akane, hurry up and eat so we can leave.  
  
Akane looked up at the speaker. It was Ranma.  
  
"What are you doing up so early?" Akane asked, still shocked at the fact that Ranma woke up early.  
  
"Just felt like it, hurry up so we can go."  
  
Akane shrugged it off, he probably couldn't sleep. She had heard him scream again last night. Probably another dream about Saffron. He rarely spoke about his dreams, so Akane had no idea what he dreamed about. She didn't know what else could give Ranma nightmares either.  
  
After Akane ate, they bolted off to school, quickly disposing of Kuno and making it to class a good few minutes before class started. They were all chatting, anxiously awaiting their test scores, thought they knew it wouldn't come until the last period. The bell soon rang and everyone took their seats.  
  
By the time lunch came for the students at Furinkan, Akane was seriously worrying about Ranma. Not only had he stayed awake during class, but he took notes, and answered questions that Akane herself didn't know. Why was he so different know? Was it Saffron? The Wedding? She decided to ask him over lunch, which is where she finds herself now. She found him sitting under a tree, gazing at the sky, slowly eating from his bento. She sat beside him, and found it hard to initiate a conversation with him. He looked so... peaceful staring at the sky. But, finally, she spitted it out.  
  
"Ranma, why are you acting so weird?"  
  
"What do you mean Akane?"  
  
"Well, you woke up early, wanted to go to school, pay attention in class, answer questions, and now you aren't inhaling your food as usual."  
  
"Just felt like a change is all, here want this?" Ranma asked, gesturing to his half-eaten bento.  
  
"Sure..."  
  
"See ya in class, Akane."  
  
Ranma hoped off, leaving Akane underneath the tree alone. What was going on? The rustling in the bushes behind her snapped her back to reality. She got up and took up one of her favorite fighting stances, but relaxed when she saw who it was.  
  
"Oh, sorry, didn't know it was you Ukyo."  
  
After the failed wedding, Ranma had confronted each of the fiancée's, including Akane, and said that by fighting, they only drove themselves farther away from him. With that, Ukyo and Akane came to a truce, and even became good friends. Ukyo was teaching Akane to cook, and Akane took up a part-time job at Ucchan's. Akane was slowly learning to cook, and now was mostly edible, even good.  
  
"I saw that. And everything in class. Is Ran-chan really ok?"  
  
"I dunno Ukyo... we will have to wait and see."  
  
Ranma sat on the roof meditating. Akane made him realize how strange he was acting. But, it didn't feel strange. It felt normal, right. It felt good to be smart, nice, but also strong and in control at the same time.  
  
The bell chose that moment to ring, so he hopped down the wall, rebounded off a tree, and shot through the open window to his classroom.  
  
The day went too slow for the student's comforts. They wanted to see their scores to know if they had to retake the entire grade. Finally, after what seemed like long classes and much waiting, the last period came and the teacher handed back their scores. Some students reacted happily, others grimly. Akane received hers, and she passed with honors. Ukyo seemed to well too, and after they compared some scores, they turned to Ranma, who was looking at his paper in deep thought.  
  
"What's wrong Ran-chan?"  
  
"I'm being transferred to Juuban High school. I passed, barely, but I'm being transferred because supposedly the counselor there gets troubled students back on track and since principle Kuno and Miss Hinako apparently couldn't help me..."  
  
"...they're transferring you." Akane finished. Ranma only nodded.  
  
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AN: Alright, sorry bout the caps at the top but someone felt the need to ban my previous account because I was gone and couldn't give him credit for the ideas I used. WELL I CHANGED IT NOW SO SUCK THAT. God, WE AREN'T MAKING MONEY OF THESE!! YOU DON'T NEED TO PROTECT ALL YOUR IDEAS BECAUSE SOMEONE BORROWS THEM. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN LITTLE FAN STORIES!! *breathes deeply as flush leaves face* Aherm... well now that i got THAT out, i hope some of you will understand, and if you send me burns about plagirism and crap just shut up, it's getting deleted without bein read so dont even bother. E-mail me at gundraw@msn.com I will try to answer any questions you might have. Next Chapter, Will Ranma go? How will it affect the fiancée's? Ja-ne!  
-Gundraw 


	2. Chapter 2

Ranma 1/2: The King of Storms  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ranma or Sailor Moon. I wrote this for fun and do not intend to make profits from it.  
  
"----" speech  
  
'----' thoughts  
  
Alright, for all of those people reviewing, I feel the need to answer a few questions. First off, I am aware of the quite distinct similarities with Slacker's "All the Small Things" and I will admit a lot of the origin came from there, however the story will probably not be the same apart from that, I am trying to steer away from that type of storyline, so it will be changing in the next couple of chapters a lot. Secondly, yes he has the curse, yes he has that immunity to magic, but only because of the blood. He does not have Serenity's and Beryl's blood now, and he might regain the immunity once his soul has completely awakened. As for the formatting, sorry, I'm still no good at that, some prereaders would be a real help so if you are interested e-mail me, and the whole 400k youma was probably a bit much, but this attack basically creates a highly concentrated hurricane around him, so if the youma were close enough I figured quite a few would die, probably less (I'm not great at estimating numbers). Next, how could Serenity send him forward if he was immune to magic? He was dead. Therefore, his immunity went with his body, leaving his soul vulnerable. Lastly, the flute is what makes him play well, If he tried to play any other flute, you would have to plug your ears. The flute is magic, so anybody who can play it, plays it expertly and beautifuly, anybody else plays it, it's crap. *Takes deep breath*. Alrighty, I'm sorry for any confusion or anger I might have caused I feel the need to apoligize, More will be coming and the story will change quite a bit.  
  
Hey, I'd like to thank those that did review, and I am now accepting anonymous reviews, thanks for reminding me. Ranma's powers will have big drawbacks, so   
You are going to have to wait to find out what that is =). As for matchups... I don't really know who Ranma is going to get just yet... whether he will stay With Akane, fall for one of the senshi, I'm not completely sure. It really depends on who you guys want Ranma to match up with, so send me some e-mails or Review saying that you want and I'll take a poll and base it off that, because it doesn't matter to me who he gets matched with, however how they get matched up is a different story... anyway, on with Chapter 2.  
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"Where's Juuban?" Ukyo asked.  
  
"My mom lives there."  
  
Ukyo's idea of moving to Juuban was shot down at that. Apparently Nodoka was not happy at her house being demolished by Ukyo and the others, and claimed   
Her property "fiancée free zone". But, that meant that ruled Akane and Shampoo out, as well as the self proclaimed fiancée Kodachi. 'Well, at least the others can't get to him.'  
  
"Do you want to go Ranma?" Akane broke the recent silence.  
  
"Kinda, see if life is as weird everywhere else as it is in Nerima, which I doubt, but still, I don't know my mom very well, so I could get to know her. And   
I think some time away from my fiancée's would do my body good. No offense."  
  
"None taken." Ukyo and Akane responded unanimously, much to Ranma's surprise.  
  
"Looking at it from your perspective, maybe less violence would be good." Akane said.  
  
"I didn't mean you two. Well, not anymore, I'll miss you guys though."  
  
Ukyo and Akane were taken aback. Maybe the kindness thing was working...  
  
"Well, it's decided then. I'm going to leave tomorrow for moms, so if you want to say goodbye, you won't miss your chance." It was mainly directed to   
Ukyo, Akane would probably see him of anyway. "It's only for the school year though ok?"  
  
The girls nodded. A whole school year without Ranma. Nerima would be a lot different.  
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Soun was weeping; Ranma and Akane had entered the dojo a little earlier, and gave him the news. He had thought Ranma was leaving Akane, but after Ranma told him it was only for the school year, Soun let him go and began weeping tears of joy. Because, if what people said was true, separation makes the heart grow fonder, than this was a perfect opportunity to get them closer.  
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Ranma had gone roof-hopping so he could think. He hopped, taking in the scenery, easily navigating the roofs of the district, when a store caught his eye.   
It was brand new, he hadn't seen it before. That and the grand opening sign above the store is how he knew.  
  
'Maybe I'll take a look. Never know what helpful stuff they might have, and I got some extra money from working at the Nekohanten.'  
  
Having decided, Ranma dropped down, and entered the small shop and began browsing, searching for nothing in particular. He slowly sifted through the junk, not seeing anything that really interested him. That is, until he saw the glass case with the silver flute. Ranma never had really any interest in music, but the flute intrigued him. He called the store owner, and questioned her of the flute.  
  
"What's so special about this flute?"  
  
The owner chuckled, "Well, I have dated it to be thousands of years old, and it's enchanted with magic."  
  
"What sorts of magic?"  
  
"Well, only a descendant of its creator himself can play it, anyone else who tries, regardless of their skill with a flute, cannot play it."  
  
Ranma nodded. "Interesting... may I?" He asked, looking at the flute.  
  
The woman chuckled again and opened the case. "Be my guest, but if you can't play it, don't get mad at me." She handed Ranma the flute, who took it   
gingerly, as if it was made of glass, and slowly raised it to his lips. Then, Ranma's body seemed to act on auto-pilot, and he gently blew into the flute,   
manipulating the sound with ease. The music that came was more beautiful than any orchestra, more captivating than any opera. The song was a short one, and still more beautiful than words could describe. The owner found herself weak in the knees from the song. Her eyes had closed, intent on concentrating on only the music, but when the music stopped her eyes slowly opened. "Young man, it would be a crime for me not to sell you this flute."  
--------Juuban, evening, Hino residence--------  
  
"So what's up with the sudden meeting? We haven't had any attacks recently." Rei demanded.  
  
"I had a dream." Usagi replied, much too calm for her normal attitude.  
  
"That's it? A dream? Please!" Rei yelled.  
  
"I think it may have been a memory, from the Silver Millennium."  
  
Everyone immediately snapped to attention. "what happened in it?" Ami asked.  
  
Usagi recounted the dream as best she could, the boy, the music, everything. When she finished, everyone was staring at her like she had grown a second head. "WHAT?!" she asked, nervously.  
  
"I had... the same dream." Ami replied.  
  
"Yeah, me too."  
  
After going around, it appeared as if every senshi had the exact same dream.  
  
"But what does it mean?" Usagi asked, to no one in particular, but someone answered. The only senshi that wasn't present until now, to be exact.  
  
"It means..." The crowd leapt out of their skin at the sudden arrival of the senshi of time, "That the final senshi is being awoken."  
  
"Will you quit doing that!!?" Usagi bellowed.  
  
"Another senshi?? But all the planets are already represented."  
  
"Not all," Setsuna replied, shaking her head. "There is one more."  
  
"Nemesis..." Ami replied, warily.  
  
"Correct, the dream you had signified the beginning of his awakening."  
  
"Wait a sec, his? I thought all senshi were supposed to be girls?"  
  
"No, you assumed that. Well, actually, they are supposed to be girls, but he is different."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"When Saturn was made, they needed another one that could stop her, as a fail safe. The only planet not represented was Nemesis, and due to the high amounts of chaos magic present on the planet, they needed to make this senshi different. So after one of many battles with Queen Beryl, the took some of her blood   
that was spilled on the field, and then took some of Queen Serenity's, in hope to balance the high amounts of chaos magic in Beryl's blood. The scientists   
that were artificially making the new senshi were amazed at the power emitted from the near complete being."   
  
"That was when Serenity found out. She was highly disappointed, to say the least, and fired the scientists. Before she could cancel the experiment, he was born. Apparently due to the high amounts of chaos magic, the senshi became a boy instead of a girl like they intended. So, for her own sake as well as her people's safety, she ordered him to be in permenant isolation, in a small wing of the castle. The only things that existed in this wing was a small courtyard with a fruit bearing tree, and a room with a small bed. He lived in that wing of the castle for a good 14 or 15 years."  
  
"I can even remember him dismanteling some of the suits of armor and his bed frame to create a small flute, which was poorly crafted, but surprisingly worked nonetheless. Apart from that, his only other activities were practicing his martial arts, so if you couldn't tell from earlier, he got extremely good as both a martial artist and a musician."  
  
"How did he learn how to fight of he was isolated?" Ami asked.  
  
"I remember each of you sneaking off to see him, which he enjoyed greatly; he never had any real social contact, and talking to him and teaching him things. He asked you to bring him scrolls on how to fight, and you did. You also tried to teach him magic, but he never could use it. But, one day, the day of the attack, he broke out of the containment. He ran to the throne room, and sent the queen away with you. The army came, but before they got to the queen, they had to go through him. He fell, but at a cost to the attackers. In his last moments of life, he released one of his most powerful attacks, leveling the castle and killing millions of Beryl's minions. Serenity was still taken down, and after she killed Beryl, she sent all of you forward." Setsuna ended her recount of the story and left the room's occupants speechless.  
  
"Why couldn't he learn magic, I mean, he was a scout right?" Usagi inquired.  
Setsuna nodded. "Due to the Chaos magic from Beryl's blood and the Life magic from Serenity's, it created a neutral void of magic in his body. However, because of this, he has no magic power, and cannot be aided by magic in any way."  
  
"So magic can't hurt him?" Hotaru asked from Horuka's lap.  
  
"Yes, but you can't heal him either. He still radiates odd fluxes of energy from his body, not chaos magic, nor life magic, but some... energy. It alters things around him... sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. It takes years for it to make any serious changes however, and since he was locked in that room for quite a while, it changed his surrondings."  
  
"How so?" Makoto asked.  
  
"Well, the rocks in the courtyard started bearing gemstones of different makeup, all on the same rock. Diamonds, Rubies, Sapphires... I believe small amounts of gold were found too. Also, the tree that beared fruit altered, as did the fruit it grew. These odd fruit, which he ate nonetheless, gave him odd powers... like controlling the weather. It is not a magical power however, it is like a part of his blood. It took many fruit to alter his blood enough to actually be able to do so, but once he did, you all had a blast with his powers. He made it rain inside, and caused winds and snow."  
  
"When will we see him?" Minako asked with little hearts in her eyes.  
  
"I don't know. Keep your eyes open though, soon he will come."  
  
With that, the meeting ended reluctantly. It was late, and everyone headed home. Tomorrow wasn't a school day, and the wanted to sleep so they could have   
Some fun tomorrow.  
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AN OK, got some of the drawbacks of his power there, and the only reason he is more powerful than the senshi is the fact that they can't hurt him with magic, meaning only a couple of them could actually do any damage. Alright, changed the origin from Slacker's 'All the Small Things', didn't need anymore harrasment from the reviewers... BTW, Slacker's ATST website is , I recommend you read it... it's cool. Anywho, now that I changed the origin... THE STORY CAN GO ON!!! Review please! Or e-mail comments to me at gundraw@msn.com Next Chapter, the first meeting between Ranma and the senshi... what will happen? Ja-ne!  
-Gundraw 


	3. Chapter 3

Ranma 1/2:The King Of Storms  
  
"...." speech  
  
'....' thoughts  
On the first day it was taken down... On the second it was brought back... On the third it was rewritten.... And on the fourth... A NEW CHAPTER!! Ahem.  
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(-The next day-)  
  
Ranma sat on the train, in a compartment by himself. The flute he had bought was visibly changing in his hand, and had been since he first played it. Markings were appearing, of a dragon of gold, with sapphire eyes, diamond teeth, and ruby claws. He didn't really mind though, he had seen wierder. The previous day, he had asked his father to play the flute, to see if what the lady said was true, only people in the creators bloodline can play the flute. It took some convincing (Ranma beating the crap out of his father) but once he gave him a couple bruises... CONVINCED him his father gave in and attempted to play the flute. Attempted being the keyword here. What came out was a sound so awful, Ranma had to plug his ears and hum to get rid of the sound.  
  
'How come I can play it then?' Ranma thought.  
  
Another thing that was bothering him was the bracers he wore. No one had really noticed them at school, he always wore bracers, and didn't really bother him, until he got in to take a bath. In an attempt to remove his clothing, he found the bracers had lost the seam. No way for him to take them off. He struggled with them for 10 minutes, but found no possible way for them to be removed. They stuck to him like a second skin, and were hardly noticeable if he wasn't actually looking at them, but he was looking at them pretty oftenly and it still disturbed him that he couldn't get them off.   
  
'Why can't I take them off?' Ranma once again questioned himself when a voice crackled over an intercom saying that they were going to arrive in a few minutes.  
  
'Wow... a half-hour early. I should thank the conductor for being so fast...'  
  
And so, Ranma gently slid the flute into his pack and hefted it over his shoulder. He opened the compartment door, and headed to the cockpit. When he arrived, he slowly entered the cockpit and turned to thank the conductor, who had a terrified look on his face. Ranma followed the gaze out the front of the train when he saw it. The station lay in ruins. Bodies littered the ground, and blood had been smeared across the ground and the walls. On the tracks, about 500 yards ahead, sat a young girl, wearing an odd skirt. She seemed hurt and wasn't moving, while the train sped straight for her. The pilot seemed frozen in shock, not budging as the train closed in on the girl. Ranma lept into action, literally. He lept through the roof of the cabin, tearing the metal like paper, and flew through the air straight for where the train was headed, the girl. He landed lightly a few feet in front of her, and could clearly see her wounds now, mostly cuts, scrapes, and bruises. He tossed his bag up onto the floor of the terminal, and turned to face the train.  
  
Ki pumped through his veins, and a small blue orb materialized in his hand and was growing at a rapid rate. The train charged on, preparing to flatten to two teens. Once Ranma was sure he pumped enough power in, he spread his legs and set his wrists together, He took steady aim at the train that was less than 100 yards away.  
  
"MOUKO TAKAHABASHI!"  
  
The blue ball of self-esteem enhanced ki took flight and hit the train square in the center. The train groaned and creaked at the sudden obstacle, as sparks flew from the metal wheels. It began to wobble from the pressure that was moving in the opposite direction. It began to jitter and shake, threatening to jump the tracks and turn over. More sparks flew as the train grew closer and slower. The ki ball finally dissipated, and the train screeched to a halt, mere inches away from Ranma. Ranma sighed in relief and turned back to the girl. He gently approached her and scooped her up into his arms, and lept up onto the station's floor.  
  
The senshi watched in amazement as a boy, no more than a year or two older than them, had just stopped a speeding train from plowing their princess over. He approached them, and gingerly handed her to them. His expression turned to hatred as soon as he handed her over.  
  
"Who did this?" He asked in a voice absent of all humor.  
  
"I did." The voice of the youma the senshi were fighting answered. It sat opposite the train tracks of the senshi. It looked nearly human, if it for the needle like teeth and three tentacles that replaced each arm.  
  
Ranma turned toward the youma, and created one of the most powerful battle aura's he had ever summoned that was fueled by the anger at the demon who had just slaughtered so many innocent people.  
  
Makoto and Minako had little hearts in their eyes, but they disappeared when his battle aura came out. They were now scared, and curious at the same time. "Hey Ami, what's that thingy he's doing?"  
  
Ami was furiously typing on her computer looking at the results. She shook her head, "I don't know what he's doing. It's energy all right, but it's not negative energy. It just seems... neutral. But..."  
  
Rei cut off Ami in a whisper. "I know what it is."  
  
"What?" The groups attention turned to Rei.  
  
"His battle aura, a ki generated field of anger and rage. But only masters and grandmasters of the art that are very old can use ki. And to a small extent. This guy looks about our age and that aura is way too powerful for anything human. It's much, much larger than anything I have seen."  
  
"God! It's hotter than your attacks Rei!" Ami exclaimed while getting more readouts from the computer. This was confirmed when a piece of steel from the railroad melted to slag when the aura touched it. Suddenly, Ami's computer began beeping again, drawing her attention. "What in the world!" Ami exclaimed once more while looking at the readouts.  
  
"What?" Rei asked with interest.  
  
"His temperature dropped. No wait, is dropping, and fast. It's approaching, just past the temperature of my attacks."  
  
Once more, Ami's readouts were proven byt the steam he exhaled, and the small ice particles forming on his skin.  
  
'Soul of ice...' Ranma thought as he slowly raised his hand to the youma and waved to himself. "Come on." The youma gladly complied at the offer of fresh meat and charged at Ranma, who easily dodged the attacks, which were quite slow compared to some of the people he fought, and led the youma into the spiral.  
  
"What's he doing? Fight back! Don't just dodge!" Rei yelled from the sidelines.  
  
"Wait Rei, look at him." Ami said while studying the stranger.  
  
"Yea I see, the youma's leading him into a trap!"  
  
"I dunno. It looks intentional..." Ami replied.  
  
'Just a few more steps... now!' Ranma thought as he reached the center of the spiral. The youma came at him, thinking he finally had him, but Ranma let loose a mighty uppercut. "HIRYU SHOTEN HA!" The force of the punch started a swirling clash between the hot and cold temperatures and a mighty tornado was summoned, trails of ice flying into the winds and ripping the youma's flesh apart as it screamed.  
  
The senshi all turned a different shade of green when the youma's head flew out of the tornado and fell with a sickening splat at their feet. Several moments later the tornado died down with no ki to support it and revealed the boy standing in the center of where the tornado once stood. He was unscathed, but his clothes were worse for wear as the tornado had ripped them apart, revealing his muscle defined chest and stomach.  
  
Ranma walked cooly over to the girls in the odd skirts and simply stated, "I won't let those kind of acts go unpunished. And, who might you girls be?"  
  
Usagi chose this moment to wake up. "We are the Sailor Senshi, the defenders of truth and love!"  
  
"Nice to meetcha. I had heard things, but never thought you actually existed. Uh-oh, sounds like the cops are here, we'll see eachother later I'm sure!" Ranma said as the sounds of sirens met their ears. He lifted his pack over his shoulders and lept through the newly renovated hole in the roof his tornado had made. 'Odd, it felt easier to control this time... must be gettin better at it.' Ranma thought as he roof hopped to his mother's house. He arrived several minutes later to the newly rebuilt house and entered. "Hey mom! I'm home!"  
  
The rapid thumps of footsteps could be heard from the stairway. "Ranma? Why are you late? The train was supposed to arrive 20 minu..t..es... What happened??" Nodoka changed the question once she saw the state of Ranma's clothing.  
  
Ranma rubbed the back of his head and smiled, "Well, I saved one of the sailor senshi and beat up this demon they were fighting, I just left the station about five minutes ago."  
  
Nodoka smiled, 'My son is so manly! Four fiancees and now the Sailor Senshi? He is truly a man amongst men!' "Alright dear, your room is the second door on the left, why don't you take a bath and get cleaned up."  
  
"Thanks mom!"  
  
Nodoka smiled as her son bolted up the stairs.  
  
Usagi arrived at her home a little distraught. The could've taken that youma, it wouldn't be too hard. But that boy who had rescued her took it out without breaking a sweat! And he looked SO familiar. But not from her past life from the silver millenium, but instead from the present... Would she see him again? She certainly hoped so. She also hoped Mamoru didn't find out about him. She flopped down on her bed and fell asleep before her head hit the pillow.  
_________________________________  
Gundraw's (author) notes: Well, I think it turned out ok. Only ok. As you can tell Ranma is getting powers... slowly. He encountered the senshi... briefly. Next chapter is going to be about the first school day with Ranma at Juuban High. Will they chaos follow? Will Mikato and Minako go Ranma-crazy? Find out whenever I write the next chapter of Ranma: King of Storms!  
  
PS: I would just like to inform you all of another author (kokatsu na tenshi) who is already using my Ranma idea for their story (Soul's Destiny, Blood's Inheritance). Do I care? no. I'm flattered really. I didn't think many would like it, but if someone is using the idea, I was wrong. It's very well written and I enjoyed reading it. If you liked this, you may want to check SDBI out. Anyway, see ya all laterz. Ja Ne!  
-Gundraw 


	4. Chapter 4

Ranma 1/2: The King of Storms  
  
Chapter 4  
  
"..."Speech  
  
'...'Thoughts  
  
Alright, this took way too long to get out I know, but it's the end of school so cut me some slack alright? Darn end of quarter/semester projects... Anyway, this is Chapter 4 of my story and if you want to know what's going on read the other chapters. Oh, and as for matchups, I KNOW WHO I AM GOING TO MATCH HIM UP WITH!!... I think... And do you want to know who it is? Well too bad, you're going to have to wait to find out ^_^!! Tee hee hee, I am so mean. OH! I almost forgot, I haven't done the disclaimer in a while! Let me put it up... One sec I'll see if I can find it... *Pulls out large cardboard box bearing the words "Big box o' stuff" and begins rummaging through it*   
  
Let's see here... rubber chicken? No...  
  
Squeaky toy? No...  
  
Err I don't want to know what this is... *tosses behind shoulder*  
  
OH! How did this get in here.... heh heh... *Hides item behind back*  
  
AHA! Here it is!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Sailor Moon or anything else that manages to sneak its way into this fic. They all belong to their respective owners. This is written for fun. Not for cash or fame. So if you want to use something, just e-mail and tell me so I can read it! Or see it or whatever you want to do. And now, on with the main event.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ranma left his mother's house the next morning, after a great night's sleep. He found being woken up by his mother instead of a bucket of cold water to be much more comforting. He had taken a bath the previous night, and come to several conclusions about his life in Juuban. First, he would be more popular. he was popular in Nerima, but not the way he would have liked to be, so here in Juuban, he was going to try it the normal way. Secondly, he would be a bit more friendly to girls. Several things helped Ranma come to this conclusion, a: He wanted to know what normal girls were like. And he still needed to conquer his fear of them that was so kindly instituted by his fiancees. b: There were no fiancees here to kill him in case he was a bit "friendly" with some girls. If he had done so much as smile at a girl in Nerima, Akane would mallet him to kingdom come and Shampoo and Ukyo would threaten or attack the poor woman. Ranma went over his thoughts in his head, chuckling to himself as thought of how genius they were. Of course, they did not have much to do with brains, but let's leave Ranma dreaming.  
  
Ranma kept walking down the street, when he realized something. He had no idea where Juuban Highschool was. He looked about to see if he could see any school-like buildings, but not one was in sight. 'Alright, just look for someone in a school uniform, I mean, other kids walk to school right?' Agreeing to his own plan, Ranma set out to look for anyone in a school uniform that might be able to help him.   
  
He didn't have to search long. After turning the corner, Ranma saw a girl, maybe a year younger than him walking in the opposite direction, wearing a school uniform. She had long, blonde hair, which was done into two buns on the top of her head. 'What a weird hairstyle... I wonder if she's Japanese...' Ranma thought as he approached the girl from behind. "Um, excuse me, miss?"  
  
Usagi jumped into the air at the voice that came from behind her and turned around. She almost fell over in shock once she got a good look at the boy. It was the boy who had saved her from the train yesterday.  
  
Ranma rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you... but um, do you know where Juuban High school is?"  
  
Usagi once again was shocked. 'He's going to our school too? And he still looked familiar...' Then the answer came down on her like a ton of bricks. That shirt... the hairstyle... the eyes... It had to be him! But she still wanted to check... "Uh, yea I know where it is; I go to Juuban High... But, if you don't mind me asking... are you that Kami Killer from Nerima?"  
  
The question was as blunt and straightforward as they come. Ranma blinked several times and cocked his head. "Kami Killer...? Do you mean Saffron? Yea I killed him but... I don't really like to talk about that... But if you are asking if I am Ranma Saotome, yea that's me. Never heard of the nickname 'Kami Killer though..."  
  
Usagi felt a little guilty about how he seemed to feel bad about killing that god... Sapporo or whatever his name was, but then her eyes widened. "You mean you are the Ranma Saotome?"  
  
Ranma blinked again, "As far as I am aware of it, Yea I am the Ranma Saotome... why is there more then one?"  
  
Usagi wasn't listening though. 'That explains why the youma was so easy for him! I mean, if he killed a god, how hard could a youma be?'  
  
Ranma stared at the girl in front of him as she got a glaze over her eyes and began smiling and drooling. "Er, are you alright?"  
  
Usagi shook her head and looked up at Ranma, before grabbing his arm and running to the high school and talking really, really fast. "OhmygodIcantbeleiveit! Waittilleveryoneseesyoutheywillbelikesoexcited! OhandmynamesUsaginicetomeetyoucanwebefriends? Great!"   
  
Ranma only picked up bits of pieces of the near incoherent blabber, like how her friends were going to be excited... And her name was Usagi... and she wanted to be friends... Ranma shrugged as he was towed behind Usagi, who was running like there was no tomorrow in the direction of Juuban High school, 'Sounds good to me.'  
  
Usagi rounded the corner, practically dragging Ranma behind, who was trying to memorize the way to school. She entered the school yard, and quickly spotted Minako, Makoto, and Ami, sitting underneath a tree chatting amongst themselves. Usagi grinned and pulled Ranma over to her friends. They all looked up and smiled at Usagi as she came into view, and then stopped and all started staring at the boy she was dragging behind her. 'It's him!' They all thought together, remembering the incident at the train station yesterday.  
  
Usagi grinned at her friends reactions and turned to Ranma, "Guys, I'd like you to meet Ranma Saotome!"  
  
Ranma blinked and shifted his weight uneasily and waved, "Uhh, hi!"  
  
All three of the girls stared.   
  
Ami's thoughts:' of course! It explains how easily he defeated that youma!'  
  
Minako's thoughts:' of course! How could I forget a body like that?'  
  
Makoto's thoughts:' of course! How could I forget my old sempai?'   
  
Ranma looked at the three girls that were staring at him oddly. Usagi frowned and began to wave her arms in front of her friend's faces.  
  
"Uh, Guys!?" You're staring!"  
  
The three girls all shook their heads simultaneously and looked up at Ranma.  
  
"Nice to meet you!"  
  
"Yea great to finally meet you in person!"  
  
"Good to see you again sempai!"  
  
Ranma looked at the last girl. "Sempai? What are you-?"  
  
Usagi interrupted him, "Oh! Hehe, a little joke we have right Makoto?"  
  
Makoto blinked and looked at Usagi. "No, He is my sem-"  
  
Minako put her hand over Makoto's mouth, "Of course it's a joke!"  
  
Ranma raised an eyebrow, "You guys made a joke about me being her sempai?"  
  
All girls nodded quickly except for Makoto, who was busy speaking into Minako's hand.  
  
Ranma shook his head and smiled. Looks like Nerima wasn't the only weird district after all. What a relief. Ranma looked at each of the four girls and made a decision. He needed a girlfriend. Despite the fact that in Nerima, he was scared out of his wits by the girls that he encountered daily, he found that here, he might actually get some good experiences with the other gender. That and the fact that Ranma needed to acquire certain "skills" when it came to women. But Ranma wouldn't be caught dead admitting that fact.  
  
He grinned broadly at his newly acquired friends and rubbed the back of his head, "Hey, can one of you girls show me to the office? I need to sign in and get my schedule and everything."  
  
"Of course!" Minako and Makoto replied simultaneously before quickly grabbing hold to either of Ranma's arms.  
  
Ranma flinched at the contact, expecting a mallet or spatula or some other weapon of pain, but remembered he had left that place, and was here now. And there would be a new Ranma... Oh yes, a new Ranma indeed.  
  
Makoto and Minako didn't notice the flinch, they were too busy staring coldly at each other to notice, but Ranma interrupted their evil stares when he spoke, "Well then, shall we?"  
  
Makoto and Minako immediately perked up and smiled up at Ranma before walking into the school hanging onto him like their lives depended on it, and giving any interested girls cold stares.  
  
After the three had left earshot, Usagi turned to Ami, who was busy typing on her computer, and grinned, "So, what do you think?"  
  
"It explains a lot, and these readings I'm getting off of him are phenomenal!"  
  
Usagi got curious and leaned over Ami's shoulder and gazed at the computer's readouts. Phenomenal was apparently a drastic understatement. In physical strength alone, his power was higher than that of all the senshi's combined. But that wasn't too surprising; after all, he killed a god didn't he? But what was even more amazing was the aura of chaos and life magic that radiated off his body. It seemed to draw in chaos from the surroundings and all the while the life aura seemed to be protecting Ranma in shell of magic. But the readouts all read his magical power level to be fluctuating, between a relatively large number, which was about half of any one the senshi's strength and zero.   
  
"Amazing, what does it mean?" Usagi asked, all giddy from excitement.   
  
Ami adjusted her glasses and looked over the readings again. "I have no idea... throughout all of our battles I have never seen anything like this... It's like... Something is fighting for control inside of him."  
  
Usagi gasped and looked over it again. "Look at all that chaos magic! I wonder if he's another enemy like the others that posed as students..."  
  
Ami shook her head and closed her eyes, "No, I don't think so... the same amount of life magic exists around him as well, and it seems like they balance each other out... somehow."  
  
Usagi nodded slowly and contemplated the possibilities. "We should still watch over him carefully..."  
  
Ami nodded, "Of course... For the protection of Crystal Tokyo, of course."  
  
Usagi nodded in agreement, "Of course, for Crystal Tokyo..."  
  
A small blush crept up into both of their cheeks and then, the two-minute warning bell rang. Glad for the distraction, the two girls ran off to class.  
  
Ranma checked over his schedule once again. Apparently, he had every single class with those four girls he had met earlier. Which was odd for several reasons, first, He was a year older than them and in a higher grade. How did he go down a grade? He distinctly remembered passing the exam for the next grade. And secondly, why should he have Home Ec? He would much rather take shop or body conditioning, and he was quite sure he didn't sign up for Home Ec.  
  
While the four other girls were just as surprised as Ranma, they were happy to say the least. Now they could watch him to ensure the "protection" of Crystal Tokyo, as they reasoned at least, and, he was a teenage legend for goodness sake! If someone kills a god, that tends to get you pretty high up on the social chain, especially with girls.  
  
The teacher adjusted his glasses and looked down at the note that Ranma had just handed him. "Well class, it seems we have a new student... Why don't you introduce yourself?"  
  
Ranma shrugged and stepped forward from his position behind the teacher and cleared his throat, "Well, hi. My name is Ranma Saotome; grandmaster of the Saotome school of Anything-Goes school of Martial Arts, when I was six, my father took me on a 10 year training trip through Japan and China to study the art. Recently, I went back to China and defeated Saffron, King of Phoenix Mountain. I was just transferred here from Nerima."  
  
The class simply stopped. Eyes watched Ranma and drank in the sight of him, head to toe. Girls seemed to stop at certain places, but Ranma didn't notice that. The boy's groaned, after hearing the rumor of what a girl-magnet and trouble-magnet this guy was, Their lives were about to get a lot more complicated.  
  
The teacher sat staring at the adolescent prodigy before him with his mouth moving, but no sound coming out.   
  
"You all right, teach?" Ranma asked.  
  
The teacher shook his head and spoke, "Er, yes. Your seat will be beside Minako."  
  
Ranma thanked the teacher and took his seat. After further inspection, it appeared the he was the center of a cross formed by the four girls he met this morning and himself. 'This just gets weirder and weirder...' Ranma thought as he looked at his neighboring classmates.  
  
Classes went slowly, and no one learned much, because they all seemed to be distracted by something. By what, Ranma was not sure. He found himself drifting asleep as his teacher stumbled through his presentation about algebra or something. That was when a folded piece of paper landed on Ranma's desk. Ranma looked up to see a girl who sat several desks away winking at him. He shrugged and opened the note, which read: Are you available? Ranma snickered and quickly wrote down a positive reply, before throwing it in a perfect arc so it fell onto her lap. The teacher noticed, but didn't seem to care.  
  
'Odd, I thought they would be even more strict here than in Nerima, but if anything they're all even nicer!' Several reasons for this ran through his head, and he could only find two reasons why the teachers were less strict, either they were used to note passing and found themselves unable to stop it, despite their efforts, or they feared Ranma might do something to them if they did speak up. The latter reason amused Ranma and he found that he might be able to mold this school to his needs, which would be wonderful.  
  
The whole time Ranma thought, he never noticed the girls becoming giddy with excitement of a celebrity being available in their school. Gossip did spread fast in Juuban High...  
  
The next couple of classes went by about the same way that the first one did. Teachers stumbling through lessons and lectures and students not quite paying attention anyway.  
  
The lunch bell rang, after what seemed like hour after hour of not learning anything. Ranma thanked kami that it did ring, even in Nerima he had learned more than he had here. He snatched the bento his mother had made from him out of his pack and headed over to the window, preparing to go down to the courtyard classic Ranma style... when a voice stopped him.  
  
"Ranma, where are you going? The stairs down are this way!" It was Minako, and she seemed to be ready to escort Ranma down to the front of the school.  
  
Ranma only grinned before he spoke, "Maybe that's the way you go to lunch, but I go this way..." With that said, Ranma lept through the open window and into the air, soaring across the front yard of the school. Minako gasped and looked out as Ranma seemed to float through the air, before turning and running out of the classroom before heading down the steps to the front doors.   
  
Ranma landed softly with a slight tap and took in the air deeply through his nose. He didn't know why, but that jump felt good. Real good. Like he belonged in it. As if in response, the wind around Ranma picked up slightly and a gentle breeze caressed his face. Ranma felt weak as the breeze licked his skin, but opened his eyes when Minako called him.  
  
"Ranma! That was amazing!"  
  
The wind died down as Ranma's eyes opened to see a smiling Minako right in front of him.  
  
"You have to take me sometime!" She said before turning and walking under a tree to eat.  
  
Ranma gave her a slight smile before turning his eyes to the clouds above. He watched them drift carelessly for several seconds, before making his way under the tree himself. Usagi, Minako, Makoto, Ami, and some other guy had already sat down and were eating their bentos when Ranma arrived. Judging by the way Usagi and this man snuggled, they were probably a couple Ranma summed up and imagined himself in that man's position. He quickly shook the images out of his head and approached the group.  
  
"Oh! Hi Ranma! This is my boyfriend, Mamoru!"  
  
'As I thought...' Ranma thought. (AN: This sounds funny... is it just me?)  
  
Mamoru stood up and extended his hand to Ranma, "Well well if it isn't the famous Ranma Saotome."  
  
Ranma took the hand and shook it gently, didn't want to hurt anyone, "The one and only." He said with a smirk.  
  
Mamoru returned the smirk, "Ah and there's the famous ego as well..."  
  
Ranma's eye twitched but he shook it off and looked away, "Well, at least I can back mine up..."  
  
It was Mamoru's turn for his eye to twitch, although his didn't stop. "Are you calling me weak?" Mamoru asked annoyance clear in his voice as he greatly increased the pressure of the handshake.  
  
Ranma shrugged, "What if I am?" Then, he noticed a slight increase of pressure on his hand, and inwardly smirked. If he wanted to play, Ranma would play along...   
  
Mamoru felt a giant increase of pressure on his hand and increased his grip, only to feel it returned three-fold. Mamoru cringed and yanked his hand away from Ranma and shook the tender hand out. Ranma only smiled and sat down, "Nice to meet you, Mamoru."  
  
Mamoru stared at Ranma. 'He's a monster!' He thought.  
  
The girls giggled nervously before they continued eating their lunch.  
  
Mamoru stared at the boy sitting across from him. 'Fine. Usagi seems to think he's an ok guy, so I'll try to make it work.  
  
Ranma glanced up as he sensed someone watching him and saw Mamoru turn away quickly, 'Fine, I'll be his friend but just because he is Usagi's boyfriend.'  
  
The bell rang; signifying the end of lunch, and the small group rose to their feet and began to walk to the school.  
  
"So, what class do we have next?" Ranma asked, knowing that the group had the same classes.  
  
"Um... I think we have PE." Makoto replied thoughtfully.  
  
'Finally,' Ranma thought. 'A class I can enjoy!'  
  
The two boys separated from the girls and walked into their respective locker rooms. Ranma entered casually, seeing as it wasn't much different then the locker rooms at Furinkan, and removed his red Chinese shirt, revealing a whit tank top underneath. He held the shirt in his hands as he glanced around and realized, 'I have no locker...'  
  
Nervously, Ranma approached Mamoru who was changing nearby. "Hey... Uh, can I use your locker? I don't have one."  
  
Mamoru almost spat back a witty remark, but decided against it. "Yeah sure, just shove it in there."   
  
"Thanks..." Ranma replied as he threw his shirt into the large locker.  
  
"Forget it, I mean, what are friends for right?" The comment was meant to be slightly sarcastic, but Ranma just froze. 'What did I do?' Mamoru thought nervously as Ranma slowly turned and looked Mamoru in the eye.   
  
'Friends?' Ranma thought as he looked into Mamoru's eyes. 'Have I had a real friend before?' Ryoga... no. Someone who wanted to kill him wasn't a friend. So cross out Mousse and Kuno... The fiancée's? Hardly. It was either fighting over him or clobbering him with a large, blunt object. Come to think of it now... Ranma never really had friends...  
  
Ranma looked at Mamoru and smiled weakly before turning and quickly walking away.  
  
Mamoru blinked.  
  
The class gathered in the large gymnasium, and sat down waiting for their teacher to tell them what they were doing today. He entered, and happened to be a large, hairy man, that sneered constantly.   
  
"Alright, as you know we are in our gymnastics unit..." The teacher stopped as he glanced at the note he received several minutes before, ignoring the groans from the class. "Well, well... It seems we have a new student. Stand up please... Ranma Saotome."   
  
Whispers spread throughout the classroom as Ranma stood up, and the inner senshi now noticed he was wearing a tank top, and stared hungrily at the toned chest and arms, thinking thoughts that cannot be mentioned in this fic due to the PG-13 rating... Screw it; they thought of getting close to that body, feeling the heat and the warmth of those toned muscles as he caressed them in his arms. Usagi blushed realizing she had a boyfriend and quickly dispensed with such thoughts.  
  
"Yo." Ranma stated calmly.  
  
"Where's your uniform, boy?" The teacher nearly snarled.  
  
Ranma raised an eyebrow and shrugged, "I don't wear uniforms."  
  
"You do now."  
  
"Sorry, I can't"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
Ranma shrugged and sat back down, "I have my reasons."  
  
The teacher sneered again at Ranma, he knew this kid would be trouble, but shook it off and continued with the lesson.   
  
"Today we will be doing the springboard." Groans could be heard from the class. Large mats had been set across nearly the entire length of the gym, and springboards placed near the ends followed by larger mats. "Saotome, get up there and demonstrate." The teacher smiled. He would teach this kid a lesson.  
  
Ranma looked up and sighed before walking to the end of one of the mats. "Sure teach, whaddya want me to do?"  
  
The teacher smiled, "Oh, nothing fancy. Just a back flip with a twist." The teacher knew that this was way out of most high-school student's league. Unfortunately for him, Ranma was a high school student who was extremely skilled in martial arts and had killed a god.  
  
Ranma shook his head. "Is that all? I was thinking more of a triple twist back flip." Before the teacher could speak, Ranma shot off down the length of the mat, hopped onto the springboard, and performed a flawless triple twist back flip and landing flawlessly as well.  
  
The teacher's mouth hung open as he watched this kid perform an Olympian rank jump with ease. The student's followed suit, before erupting in applause and cheers.  
  
Ranma smirked to himself and bowed deeply to the crowd, before slumping to the ground, unconscious.  
  
Minako stared in horror as Ranma just dropped to the ground, and stopped moving. Before anyone could react, she got up and ran over to his fallen body. She stared at his lifeless form, and began to speak, "Ranma? Ranma? Oh god... please say something Ranma!"  
  
Ranma's eyes fluttered open gently and he gazed at the girl before him. Minako? Was that her name? Why is their fog inside the gym? Ranma furrowed his brow as Minako didn't seem to move, and a thick smoke seemed to envelop the area around them. He shook his head and looked around. He couldn't see far, with the large amounts of silvery vapors blocked his vision. He stood shakily, and looked about him. Minako still stay hunched over at the spot where he was just laying. Ranma raised an eyebrow and began to walk towards the thick fog. He approached it cautiously, and waved his arm through the unknown vapors. He watched, as his hand seemed to scoop the substance from the air, and it floated there in his open palm. It was then he noticed the faint glow of the bracers on his wrist. An icy blue glow, which seemed to radiate out and tried to grab at the substance in his hand. Ranma quickly jerked his hand up and tried to throw the odd material away, but it accidentally came close to his face and brushed against it. Ranma froze and his eyes widened. He knew what that stuff was. He felt it nearly every day when he jumped from roof to roof.  
  
"It's the air..." Ranma said as he looked about himself. He quickly made his way through the dense fog, no longer fearing it, abandoning the hunched over figure of Minako. He made his way through, until he could make out the teacher standing there, looking toward the direction where Ranma had once lay, surprise written clearly across his expression. Ranma walked up to the frozen figure and waved his arm about in front of his teacher's face. "Hey teach? You there? Hello?" Nothing. Ranma sighed and began to knock against his teachers head, trying to get him out of the trance. And that was when it happened. Suddenly, all of the fog that Ranma could see gave a lurch toward his body and Ranma noticed for the first time that the odd aura his bracers had given off had covered the entire room, and was beginning to pull the vapors toward him. Before Ranma could break off the connection, all of the smoke in the area lurched forward again, and was pulled at unimaginable speed toward him. Ranma watched in horror as the bracer's he wore acted like a giant vacuum, and sucked all of the smoke from around him, and he could feel an odd sensation running through his body as the substance ran through his arms, slowly spreading up both of them, before traveling downwards into his chest and into his legs, and up into his head as well. The moment the feeling reached his eyes. Ranma screamed out in pain, louder than he ever had when fighting Saffron. IT felt like someone was taking one of those magical glaives he had, and sticking them straight into his eyes. The pain only intensified and Ranma began to claw at his eyes, trying to get the feeling to go away.  
  
Minako gasped as Ranma suddenly vanished, and a loud crash was heard behind her, followed by screaming. Such painful screaming... She turned and saw a large crater in a nearby wall, their teacher hanging out of it limply, and Ranma standing near it, clawing at his face and screaming in pain. She blinked, before rising to her feet, and charging off towards Ranma.  
  
"Ranma?! What's wrong?" Minako asked as she got closer to Ranma. He apparently did not hear her though, because he kept screaming and clawing at his face. "Ranma! Please stop it Ranma!" Ranma only lowered his arms after a second, and Minako nearly fainted at what she saw. His eyes had lost their pupils, leaving them as large, solid, blue-gray orbs that stared back into her own eyes. But what frightened Minako, was the fact that he had a black, upside-down crescent moon on his forehead. Ranma fainted several seconds later, giving temporary relief of the pain he felt, and Minako just stayed frozen in place. It was at this point when the class rose and ran over to the limp form of their teacher. Everyone except Usagi, Rei, Makoto, and Mamoru that is. They rushed over to Ranma's side and began to speak to Minako.   
  
"What's wrong Minako? You look like you have seen a ghost."  
  
"Ranma...moon...forehead." was all that Minako could get out.  
  
Usagi immediately brightened. "I knew it! Ranma's from the Silver Millennium!"  
  
Minako quickly shook her head, "No...Black moon."  
  
Usagi froze and stared at Minako, "No..."  
  
Mamoru grimaced. He knew that this Ranma fellow wasn't what he made out to be. And he did not look forward to their fight... He was not sure that they would win against him.  
  
Ranma awoke half an hour later in a bed, fully clothed. He winced, as a massive headache just kicked in, then passed several seconds later. Ranma furrowed his brow... "That's weird..."  
  
"Oh! Ranma you're up!"  
  
Ranma turned to see Minako, who froze stiffly when Ranma looked at her. "What?" he said. 'Do I have a booger or something?' Ranma thought as he wiped his nose experimentally. 'No...'  
  
Minako froze once she saw Ranma. The moon on his forehead was indeed gone, but his eyes now remained pupil-less.  
  
"What is it?" Ranma asked again.  
  
"N-nothing, c'mon, let's go to class."  
  
Ranma wondered what was bothering Minako but shrugged it off in the hall. Girls... the one thing Ranma could not master.  
  
The rest of the day went somewhat oddly, people staring at him oddly, but looking to afraid to comment about it. The same went for the friends he had thought he made earlier in the day. Of all people, they seemed most afraid and only speaking when spoken to. Ranma figured people were afraid he would flip out or something, but the truth was, ever since that weird thing happened... Ranma felt better. Complete. Whole. Together. One. Whatever else you want to call it, he just felt like he got back a piece of him that had been missing for... A loooong time.  
  
School ended casually, and Ranma mentally cheered. He got through a normal (well... almost) day of school. He left with his friends he thought he made, and they glanced at him nervously from time to time, thinking they could not be seen. It hurt Ranma a little, but he was used to getting those stares from people on the streets in Nerima. He sighed and stretched his arms out, yawning loudly, before walking forward again.  
  
"SAOTOME RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!!!"   
  
Out of reflex Ranma grabbed the girls on either side of him and lept out of the way as a large, red umbrella created a large crater where he once stood.  
  
"Yo, P-chan. Long time no see. But I guess that's normal for you huh?"  
  
Ryoga snarled, "Ranma you cretin! You have a beautiful fiancée and here I find you in another district, hanging out with some bimbos!"  
  
Minako and Makoto glared at Ryoga. They had still liked to remain close to Ranma, and decided to enjoy him until he turned evil and they had to kill him.  
  
"What are you talking about, Ryoga? I just transferred here from Furinkan. Ask Akane, I swear! She let me go!"  
  
"Shut up Ranma! Your words are as empty as your heart!"  
  
Ranma didn't know why, but that insult just seemed to strike a weak spot. Ranma bared his teeth and growled.  
  
Ryoga looked up at him and froze, his eyes going wide. "R-Ranma... what's with your eyes?"  
  
"Ryoga... I am tired of this... Akane LET me go. WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT!?!?"  
  
Before Ryoga could move, Ranma easily crossed the distance between them, and gave Ryoga a swift punch to the stomach. Normally, this wouldn't have done much, because of the breaking point training. But today, Ryoga screamed in pain and flew backwards, embedding his body in the stone. He remembered the time when Ranma had gotten weak, and had said Ranma's punches were like lightning bolts. He was wrong. THAT punch, felt like a lightning bolt. Because there was some truth in that. Ranma stared at his life-long enemy, his fist still outstretched. That was when he noticed the lightning coruscating over his fist, jumping randomly over it, before finally jumping back into the bracers on his wrists.   
  
"What the..." Ranma muttered before he looked up at Ryoga's body. It was blackened, and lightning violently hopped over it, stretching itself over the limp boy's body.   
  
The senshi froze as they watched from the sides, and at the display of power they had just seen. Ami was busy typing into her computer, and stared wide-eyed at the readouts.   
  
Ranma shook his head, before running as fast as he could toward his mother's house. He arrived a minute later, threw his bag on the floor, and ran upstairs before his mother could greet him. He ran into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. Two, solid, pale-blue orbs stared back.   
  
'That's why everyone was staring... but where are my pupils??' Ranma thought as he looked in the mirror at his eyes. The second that the last part of the thought came out, his pupils faded back into existence in his eyes. Ranma almost fell backwards when he saw this, and then approached the mirror once more. He thought of eyes without pupils, and the pupils faded away instantly. He switched them back and forth several seconds before grinning, "Cool..."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It took way to long for an update, I know I know and I am sorry, but you know, I have a life too! But here it is, Chapter 4 of my creation... MUHAHAHAHA. Erhem. I will try to start updating regularly again... I gave you an extra long chapter today to make up for my lack of it. So, any questions, comments, ideas, suggestions, or other stuff, write it in a review or e-mail me at gundraw@msn.com, and all burns can be stuck in an inappropriate place. And don't criticize my improper use of gymnastics terms… I have no idea what they are, so I just said it straight up. 


	5. Chapter 5

Ranma 1/2: The King of Storms  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ranma or Sailor Moon. I wrote this for fun and do not intend to make profits from it.  
  
"----" speech  
  
'----' thoughts  
  
Rants  
  
Alrighty, here it is, Chapter 5 of my story. It is doing far better than I had ever imagined, I thought this up while on an anime (Ranma) high and wrote it out on paper. I knew I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't post it, so I did. And now look at it. I have one person (kokatsu na tenshi) who has actually used Ranma as the king of storms in her story, Soul's destiny Blood's inheritance. It is going well, I have been watching with interest, and suggest you at least take a look at their story if you liked this one. Also, I have recieved a couple of requests to be a prereader and was surprised and honored at the same time. Word normally messes up the story in some way or another so a thank you to Lorn and Silver Dragon, wherever you are. And finally, to all those who supported me through my period of self-pity and worrying about all the burns, thank you. Also, I am sorry bout the Mamoru thing... haven't watched Sailor Moon all that much (That is why I need a pre-reader who watches that show... I know you are out there) and for the sake of getting this fic back on track, Mamoru was only visiting the school for lunch with Usagi. The locker room thing never happened. I'll edit it out soon, if no one wishes otherwise, and start trying to get the characters a bit more... right from now on. And as for me writing about Ranma killing a god alot... Oh come on. You can't believe I will not put that in an action story. I may have overdone it a bit, but I thought since Nabiki was his fiancee's sister, the news might have "leaked" a bit, whether he wanted it to or not. Besides, he could just want to fend off any people wanting to challenge him. So there. =P. Another quick note... The authors rants nearly doubled my reviews, even though it wasn't a chapter. Amazing... Thanks for the support guys. Now then, *pops knuckles and grins* Let's get this show on the road, ne?  
  
*Random shout from riot in front of podium* [GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!]  
  
Ok ok sheesh...  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A knock was heard at the door.  
  
"Ranma? Are you alright in there?"  
  
Ranma was jerked back to reality at the sound of his mother's voice. "Uh, yeah mom... I just needed to... go. Bad."  
  
"Oh... Alright." His mother said as she walked back downstairs. A knock at the door met her ears as she began to enter the kitchen.  
  
"Who could that be?" She asked herself as she walked to the door, setting her apron down before she went. When she answered the door, she was surprised to see four girls standing there, each with odd hairstyles that seemed dyed. 'I wonder if they are Japanese...' Nodoka thought as she saw the two blondes.  
  
"Um... excuse me miss, but did Ranma just run in here?" She was panting and sweating heavily and seemed to have ran all the way here.  
  
"Yes he is. Might I ask why you are here?"  
  
"Oh... Um, you see we met this morning and we were wondering if..."  
  
"Who is it mom?" Ranma emerged from the staircase and the senshi gasped as they saw he had his pupil's back.  
  
"Hmm? Oh Ranma, some of your friends are here! I will just leave you alone..." Nodoka said as she walked back into the kitchen, thinking about her manly son the entire time.  
  
"Oh, hey guys... how did you know where I lived...?"  
  
"Well... we kinda followed you..." Usagi muttered as she blushed and looked away.  
  
Ranma raised an eyebrow, "Well, that's odd, considering how quiet you guys were after PE... I really don't know what happened, and I am sorry if I scared you..." Ranma purposely left out the whole pupil thing, maybe they would just forget it.  
  
Minako and Makoto looked absolutely thrilled that Ranma had his eyes back, but still weren't too pleased about the whole black crescent moon... While evidence did show that he might be from the Negaverse... He just seemed too... innocent for that. And he was WAY too cute to be evil.  
  
Usagi laughed nervously, "Heheh... yeah. Well we were wondering if we could apologize by... taking you out on a tour of Juuban! Right guys?"  
  
The others quickly nodded in agreement, puting on their best smiles.   
  
Ranma furrowed his brow. Was he missing something here? It seemed like they wanted to be with him for another reason then just be with him... But the offer was too good than to just refuse. That would be impolite anyway. 'Wait a second, impolite? When did I start thinking about how polite I was?' Ranma thought as he caught that last statement. Little did he know that in his mind, drastic changes were taking place...  
  
"Well.. ok I guess, just let me check with my..."  
  
"Go ahead dear! And be sure to bring back lots of grandchildren!"  
  
"WHAT!?" The senshi all yelled as Ranma quickly ushered them out of the house.   
  
"What was that all about!?" Usagi demanded as they began walking.  
  
Ranma sighed and put his face in his hands. "My mom wants me to be a man amongst men, but she has interesting ideas on what is manly..."  
  
The senshi all raised their eyebrows in unison. Was there more to being a teenage prodigy then the stories? It sure seemed that way after they saw that odd boy with the bandana attack him...  
  
They walked down the streets of Juuban, heading to Usagi's favorite ice cream parlor since she was leading the group anyway. As they entered, they immediately spotted Rei, Mamoru, Hotaru, Haruka, Michiru, and much to everyone's surprise (Though they were already surprised to see the rest of the group together, espiecially since school had just gotten out), Setsuna sitting at a table, enjoying ice cream. Mamoru glared slightly at Ranma, who returned the glare before sitting down.   
  
Ranma had no idea who these people were, other than Mamoru, but saw the other's sitting with them so he sat down as well. He didn't know why, but the older woman with the green hair and the younger girl with black hair were both staring at him. The older one had a look very much like Nabiki's, except it seemed to be more intense. The younger one had her head cocked to the side and was staring at Ranma curiously. Ranma tried his best to ignore their stares as Usagi went up to Mamoru and began to beg for money for ice cream. She didn't have to beg long, as Mamoru almost instantly brought out his wallet and handed her a large bill, which she bought a five-scoop bowl, with every topping they had. Ranma almost felt sorry for the guy, but instead just snickered and made a whip-cracking sound, to which Mamoru glared at him.  
  
"So Ranma, how are you enjoying Juuban High?"  
  
Ranma turned to the speaker, the middle aged green haired woman. "Um... How do you know me?"  
  
The woman laughed, "Oh forgive me, I will be your new counselor at Juuban."  
  
Ranma forced a smile out, "Oh, that's um... great."  
  
"Don't get too excited now..."  
  
By this time, all of the senshi were staring at Setsuna. She had... laughed. And made a joke... What the hell was going on?!  
  
Ranma smirked a little, at least she has a sense of humor...  
  
After Usagi had thoroughly inhaled her ice cream she cleared her throat, allowing her to get everyone's attention. "Well, as Setsuna pointed out this is Ranma Saotome."  
  
Haruka and Rei immediately recognized the name, for Hotaru and Michiru, it took some time.  
  
Rei blinked. "That one martial artist from Nerima?"  
  
Ranma stood up, "YES! Alright?! YES I AM RANMA!!" The questions of if it was really him were getting old. And Ranma decided to just make that fact clear...  
  
Rei pouted, one of the martial artists she looked up to was yelling at her!  
  
Ranma immediately saw the change in expression and rubbed the back of his head and blushed. "Erm, sorry. It's just... people have been asking me all day about it and I just wanted to make it clear that I AM Ranma."  
  
Rei nodded, still slightly hurt.  
  
"What are you doing in Juuban?" Haruka spoke up, looking eagerly at Ranma.  
  
"Well, I just got transferred here... That's why... um, what's your name?" Ranma asked, looking at Setsuna.  
  
Setsuna smiled, "Oh, where are my manners today?" The entire group (apart from Ranma) face-faulted "I am Setsuna Meiou."  
  
"And I am Haruka."  
  
"I'm Michiru."  
  
"And I am Hotaru..." Hotaru said shyly, looking away from Ranma.   
  
Ranma carefully memorized each name, seeing as he might be spending more time with these people, and smiled, "Good to meetcha all!"  
  
This lightened the mood somewhat, and everyone relaxed as the tension that had hung in the air after Ranma's outbreak slowly dissapatted and went away.  
  
"Well anyway, I was just saying that was why Setsuna said she was my new school counselor..." Ranma finished, once again taking his seat.  
  
Haruka mentally kicked herself for not paying attention.  
  
"So... you guys come here often?"  
  
Everyone turned and stared at Ranma. Ranma looked around, wondering if he had grown a second head. "What?"  
  
Rei shook her head and sighed, "Forget it..."  
  
Nature took it's toll then, since he had not gone earlier when he was home, it called him now, like a very subtle application of high explosives to his bowels. Ranma winced as an extremely bad cramp hit, and knew that he had to go. And had to go now. (AN: Oh come on. Even world class martial artists gotta go sometimes.)  
  
"Err... I need to go to the bathroom, excuse me a moment..." And he was gone. A slight breeze was all that indicated his departure, and left the rest of the table's occupants blinking, wondering what had just happened.   
  
Soon after all had recovered from the sudden dissappearance, Usagi spoke.   
  
"What are you doing here Setsuna? And why is everyone gathered together?" The questions were logical, and many of the inners nodded in agreement as they wondered the same thing.  
  
Setsuna smiled, more of a smirk actually... but she smiled and said, "Well, I came to tell you a few things about Ranma here... That and the time gate isn't working."  
  
The inners all nodded at the first part, then backtracked slightly. "What do you mean it isn't working!?" Was the next question voiced by the five, or at least something that went along those lines.   
  
"Exactly what I said," Setsuna shrugged, nearly indifferent to the situation. "It isn't working. Don't worry though, I believe it may have something to do with Ranma's awakening..."  
  
"H-How so?" Ami aksked quietly, wondering what the awakening of Ranma could have to do with the time gate not working. The time gate was a powerful structure, and for something to stop it from working was worrying her.  
  
"I am not exactly sure... the magic he gives off might have something to do with it... Or it may be that the field of neutral between Chaos and Life magic in his body are beginning to take affect... It doesn't matter anyway, Crystal Tokyo was in every time line when it stopped working."  
  
"But... you didn't know that Ranma was sent to the future didn't you? So that means the time lines have changed, doesn't it?"  
  
Everyone turned and stared at Usagi, who had spoken. "What?!"  
  
Setsuna snapped out of her trance, wondering how Usagi came up with that on her own, "Well... now that you mention it, it might change things a bit, though... since he is a senshi, that would just help us, and make Crystal Tokyo even more likely to come true."  
  
The inners were about to agree, when Minako remembered something that had happened earlier that day. Something that made her insides crawl, complaining at the mere thought of it. "But... he isn't on our side..." She muttered, staring at the wall with eyes that shone with tears as they slowly built up in her eyes.  
  
Setsuna frowned, which was a good sign for the inners. The thought of Setsuna smiling just scared them.   
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Minako wiped her eyes slightly, trying not to think of what would have to happen to Ranma if he was from the Negaverse. "I saw... H-He... he fell.. and then moved really fast, then stopped and screamed like he was in pain... and he had no eyes! And... and there was a black moon on his forehead..."  
  
The table fell deathly silent at the last part. If Ranma was to be their enemy, so be it. Though each knew that it would not be easy. Not easy at all.   
  
Though, Several members of the table still did not want to believe it.  
  
"So... what was it that you wanted to tell us about Ranma Setsuna?" Ami asked, breaking the silence.  
  
Setsuna shook her head to clear her thoughts and looked to Ami. "It has to do with Ranma's... relationships with us in the Silver Millenium..."  
  
Minako and Makoto immediately perked up. If they couldn't have him now, they wanted to know if they had him then.   
  
"What about our relationships...?" Rei asked, not liking   
  
Setsuna sighed and glanced to the bathrooms, slightly hoping that Ranma would appear. "Well... he was... engaged to one of the senshi..."  
  
"What...?!" The five inners shouted, some happy with the news, some not so happy.  
  
"Only one of us! And... it's one one outer... somehow, some idiot claiming to be Ranma's creator got one of us engaged to him, the fact that he was a male senshi made the propostion more... appealing. Plus... several of the senshi did indeed like Ranma..."  
  
Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru exchanged glances, then looked at Setsuna.  
  
"So... who is it?" Makoto asked, feeling glum knowing that she wasn't the one.  
  
"So, what happened while I was gone?"   
  
Everyone snapped their mouths shut as Ranma took his seat again, and stared at him with mixed feelings.  
  
"What...? Do I have something on my face...?" Ranma asked, his head whipping about and looking at each of the people sitting around the table.  
  
"Err..." The girls (and boy) glanced around at eachother, exchanging looks spanning from skepticism to distrust.  
  
"What!?" Ranma asked, picking up a spoon and looking at his reflection, though it was hard to tell if he did have something on his face, as his reflection was distorted and upside-down.  
  
"It's... nothing. Forget it. Let's get out of here, I need some fresh air." Setsuna stated. Although everyone seemed to take it as a command and stood and immediately exited the building, though it took Ranma a little longer as he was still looking for unsightly objects on his face.  
  
The crowd walked outside and into the sunlight. It looked quite odd, only two men and nine women walking together (Though one of the women did look quite masculine).  
  
"So... where we headed?" Ranma asked, resting his arms behind his head and unconsciously giving the women a splendid view of his pectoral muscles as his shirt flattened against his chest.   
  
Minako and Makoto found themselves unable to draw their eyes away from the sight. Ranma remained looking up at the sky, enjoying the deep blue with patches of fluffy white, not noticing the lustful gazes all the while.   
  
Setsuna herself found herself looking at his chest. 'Just like I remember him... all muscle. Not an ounce of fat on him..." She thought as she thought back to the Crystal Millenium.  
  
"Well, I guess we could always go back to my place..." Rei stated, averting her eyes from Ranma.   
  
Usagi took no notice of Ranma, she was latched onto Mamoru and looking at his face fondly.  
  
"That sounds good." Ami said, and so they all turned and began to head in the direction of the shrine, chatting amongst themselves and (for the most part) enjoying themselves.  
  
Arriving fairly quickly at the shrine despite the distance, The large group trudged up the stairs.  
  
"So... Ranma... What's your favorite subject in school?"  
  
Ranma turned to Setsuna, who was smiling pleasantly at him. He didn't know why, but this woman frightnened him. She seemed almost obsessed with him and his well being, and was watching him constantly, stealing glances out of the corner of her eye. He had to admit, she had a feminine beauty among her that rivaled Ms. Hinako's, but she was his councelor for kami's sake!   
  
"Well... I really like PE... I haven't really liked all my other classes all that much."  
  
Setsuna giggled, "Oh, that's understandable. Someone with your background is sure to have trouble liking the dull pace at which math and science go."  
  
Ranma looked at Setsuna, wondering what she meant. Hoe much she knew. But she was looking forward, as they rapidly approached the top of the stairs.   
  
"Grandpa! I'm home! I have some friends over, I also want you to meet someone!"  
  
Some banging and chrashing noises were heard and a voice that sounded somewhat old and raspy rang out from indoors, muttering some incoherent curses as a door slid open, revealing an old man indeed who smiled when he saw Rei and her friends.   
  
"Ah Rei! It seems you brought your friends again. What is it that you wanted to show me?"  
  
"Well grandpa, I wanted to show you my new friend," Rei turned around and pushed her way to Ranma, grabbed his hand and began tugging him forward.   
  
"Ow! Hey whattaya doin?"  
  
"Be quiet and come with me! We need to make sure you make a good impression so grandpa doesn't think you are a delinquint or something!" Rei hissed back as they emerged and stood before the withered old man.  
  
"Grandpa, I'd like you to meet Ranma Saotome!" Rei gave him a sharp jab in the ribs, which didn't really hurt but he still bowed deeply nonetheless.  
  
"Nice to meet you sir."   
  
The old man looked questionably at Ranma, then smiled broadly. "Nice to meet you too, sonny boy. But... why does that name sound so familiar...?"  
  
Ranma raised back up and tugged at the back of his pigtail nervously. "Well, I used to live in Nerima."  
  
Rei's grandpa laughed, "Ah, from Nerima eh? Say isn't that... where. the. wierd martial artists... live?"  
  
Ranma laughed nervously and tugged harder on his pigtail.  
  
"So... you... are one of those martial artists...?"  
  
"Well... kinda... maybe... yes."  
  
For the next several seconds, Ranma avoided the man's gaze as he stared at him, blinking several times.   
  
"PLEASE DON'T DESTROY MY HOUSE! OR THE SHRINE! PLEASE!"  
  
Ranma turned back to the man... to find that he was ducking against a wall, cowering before him. "Uh..."  
  
Ranma didn't see the sweatdrops proceed to go down each of the senshi's heads behind him, as he was too busy trying to tell the man he wasn't going to destroy his house.  
  
"I'm not gonna destroy your house! I moved here to try and live a normal life! I truly am not..."  
  
Behind them, Setsuna turned to Rei. "Why don't you calm your grandfather down... we'll take Ranma inside."  
  
Setsuna grabbed the still struggling Ranma and pulled him inside along with her, and into the living room, where everyone took a seat. Michiru and Haruka sat next to eachother, as always, and Hotaru sat on the floor between their legs (she was too old to sit on their lap now). Usagi took up her standard position beside the table, instantly snatching up one of the mangas Rei had left on the table and becoming engrossed in it. Though she did snuggle up to Mamoru first. Everyone else took up a place around the table, Ranma was across from Usagi and Setsuna had sat down beside him.   
  
'Is she snuggling up to me!?' Ranma thought as Setsuna shifted in place, rubbing herself against Ranma. 'No no... she's my counselor! She wouldn't do that!'  
  
"So Ranma, what was life in Nerima like?"  
  
Ranma blanched and turned to Setsuna. "Er..."  
  
"Yeah Ranma, what was it like living with all the chaos?"  
  
Agreements were murmured around the table, and Ranma knew that he couldn't find a way out of this. All the windows and doors were closed, meaning he would have to make a hole in the house if he wanted to escape, but he knew that Rei's grandpa would definetly not allow him then, so sighed and resigned to his fate. As he was about to begin his tale, Rei walked into the room, her grandpa following nervously behind.   
  
"I-I am sorry for my outburst, Ranma."  
  
Ranma laughed and waved his hand, "Please don't be! I mean, a lot of people in Nerima were like this."  
  
He smiled, and nodded in thanks, then walked back into the house and out of sight.  
  
"Are they really like that Ranma?"  
  
Ranma dropped the fake smile. "No, they are used to it. Contractors there are the wealthiest people around..."  
  
"So Ranma, you never answered my question..."  
  
Ranma sighed, as he had hoped that they would forget they had asked, even if it was highly unlikely. "Well... I guess I should start 12 years ago when my pops took me on this training trip..."  
  
And so, he recounted his life from that point. He did leave the curse out, thinking that it would only make his magnetism to water rekindle as he had not been splashed all day. He told them about his travels, the training with his father, the nekoken, even about his fiancee's (He swore he heard some moans of despair when he told them about that...) His rivalry with Ryoga, About Kirin, and how he saved Akane, about Toma and how he saved Akane again, about Herb, Lime and Mint, and how they were the anscestors of animals, about Saffron... and Akane. Everything. He didn't know why, but talking about his life felt good. Really good. It was as if the damn had broken and his life had flowed right out of him, and it felt, really, truly, good.   
  
By the time he had finished, everyone was staring at him, mouths hanging wide open. Their eyes were slightly focused, only enough so to tell that he was still there, as they imagined what he said in their minds. Even Usagi had put down her manga half-way through (though it was because she couldn't concentrate with Ranma's voice) and had become enraptured in his tale. Everyone remained silent, leaving Ranma watching himself twiddle with his thumbs.  
  
Setsuna wasn't surprised Ranma had not mentioned the curse. Though she couldn't see the future anymore, she still knew about Ranma's curse. She had taken an interest in him at that point, and watched him from time to time. But, she also knew that the other senshi had to find out sooner or later...   
  
"Rei. I am sorry to bother you, but where might I get a glass of water?"  
  
"Oh... Come with me into the kitchen Setsuna, I'll get you one."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Both rose and meandered over and into the kitchen, where a glass was retrieved and filled with water. Setsuna thanked Rei, took a sip and walked back into the living room, where the atmosphere had not changed. Smirking mischieviously, she wandered over to Ranma's position, before acidentally tripping over her own feet, and sending the liquid through the air, and all over Ranma.   
  
Ranma knew he had changed, as two objects now obstructed his sight to his hands in his lap.  
  
"What did you do that for!?" Ranma shouted, turning to Setsuna, who was giggling like mad on the ground.  
  
"Where'd Ranma go!" Usagi shouted, as she stood and looked at the buxom redhead.  
  
"Uhh... Usagi... I think that IS Ranma..." Ami stated, eyes gone wide at the transformation.  
  
"Eh... Hehehe..." Ranma laughed, blushing a deep red.  
  
Huraka and Michiru both eyed this 'Ranma' with new interest, wondering if she was a natural redhead...  
  
"I guess I have ta' tell you 'bout the curse now..." Ranma muttered, glaring at the green haired woman that was still chuckling on the ground. What was so god-damn funny?  
  
"Curse...?" Ami's interest peaked. This was very interesting...  
  
"Yeah..." Ranma grumbled, thinking to the past. "On that 10 year training trip pops took me on. The last place we visited was Jusenkyo... the valley of cursed springs. The guide tried to warn us, but we didn't listen. Cold water makes me a girl, and hot water makes me a guy. Pops turns into a panda."  
  
Everyone blinked in turn, and stared at Ranma once more.  
  
Rei stood quickly, ran into the kitchen and took the kettle off the stove, returned to the room and dumped the contents over Ranma's head.  
  
A now male and very agitated Ranma leapt into the air "YOW! It didn't have to be that hot!"  
  
Ranma heard a snicker and turned to the to look across the table, where he could see Mamoru chuckling.  
  
"What's so funny...?" Ranma asked, popping his knuckles.  
  
Mamoru stopped laughing and shrugged. "You tell me."  
  
Ranma sneered, remembering his promise to the old man. 'You'll get yours...' Ranma though, glaring at Mamoru. He glanced at the clock, then made to sit down, before making a double take at the clock. "Is that the time!? Oh man I gotta go, I was supposed to be home a while ago. Thanks for having me, see you tomorrow in school!" And he bolted out the door, proceeding down the shrine steps and ran to his mother's house.  
  
Back at the shrine, Ami shook her head. "I have never heard of any type of curse like that."  
  
Mamoru snickered and several of the senshi shot him a cold look. He stopped laughing.  
  
~Nodoka's Home~  
  
Ranma ran home in record time and burst through the door, "I'm home!"  
  
Nodoka poked her head out from the dining room, obviously unhappy. "Do you realize what time it is? I have had dinner out for a half-hour!"  
  
Ranma quickly shuffled into the room and sat down across from his mother. "Sorry mom, I was with some friends and lost track of time..."  
  
Nodoka's anger vanished. "You made some friends?"  
  
Ranma nodded and smiled imbetween inhalations of food. "Uh huh. Lots of nice girls. Oh and a guy too, but he was out of highschool or something (AN: YA HAPPY NOW?!)"  
  
Nodoka instantly beamed at her son. He was so... manly. Made friends with some girls on his first day.   
  
The rest of the meal was eaten with minimal talk, and after Ranma had finished Nodoka made him do his homework and get to bed.  
  
In bed, Ranma smiled to himself. The day had gone better than any of the days he had spent in Nerima. He had only changed into a girl once, which wasn't so bad, he made a lot of friends, talked to them a lot. 'I guess it can only get better...' Ranma thought as his mind drifted away into the realm of dreams.   
  
Above his room, on the roof top, a figure sat. Dressed in a tan trenchcoat, buttoned only at the middle, a slightly lighter tan scarf which was wrapped around his neck and up onto his face concealing his mouth. The ends of the scarf were ripped and shredded, and various holes could be seen along the body of the fabric. Underneath the coat were some dirty jeans and an undershirt. He wore combat boots, all laced up tightly and snugly around his feet. His hair was a dusty brown, lighter than the standard brown but darker than a blonde. His eyes were a brilliant emerald green, and his face was smeared with dirt and grit. A smile was on his face, beneath the tattered scarf. Gundraw, who we will refer to as Shiku henceforth, chuckled as he flipped his notebook over.  
  
He spoke quietly, and the scarf only made it quiter."Ranma, poor boy how wrong you are..." Then, pressed the pencil against the paper and began scribbling down words.  
  
~Hikawa Shrine~  
  
"Well... he sure doesn't seem evil." Minako pointed out as they sat there in silence.  
  
No one else could really argue with that, though they had been fooled before. So, they would still keep a close eye on him, even if they didn't think that he was a bad guy.  
  
"Oh! Setsuna, you never told us who Ranma-kun was engaged to!"  
  
Setsuna bit her lip. She knew some of the senshi would not like this... "Well, the person he's engaged to is..."  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Wow, I am mean... what a cliff hanger! (For those of you who want to know who he's engaged to at least =P) At least it's been narrowed down to the outers... Sorry bout the self insertion, I am somewhat of a fan of Omega X, and the oppurtunity was too good to pass up. I know chapter is gonna bug the hell outta you guys, with my random lengthy updates and a cliffhanger, but bear with me. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Thoughts? E-Mail me at gundraw@msn.com. Next chapter: The first real fight Ranma has breaks loose in Juuban, and leaves someone unconcious and worse for wear. The fiancee's are restless, and after seeing Ranma fighting with some hussies, they wait no more and head for Juuban personally. Welp, hope ya liked it! Review please! Ja! -Gundraw 


	6. Chapter 6

Ranma 1/2: The King of Storms  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ranma or Sailor Moon. I wrote this for fun and do not intend to make profits from it. I don't have any money anyway, so suing me would get you jack.  
  
"----" speech  
  
'----' thoughts  
  
Rants  
  
I don't really deserve to rant.... _ What with my updates being random, spontaneous and rather annoying. Thanks for all the reviews; I really enjoyed some of the feedback. ('Specially about how much you all hate cliffhangers, though the cliffhanger for this chappie is about 10 times worse XD) The time between this update and the last was mostly spent sorting out some plot holes... And figuring out how I am going to make this work into a series. Yup, there's the plan... always was. I eventually plan on many anime and manga being incorporated, but I am gonna ease into that.... Hell I would get lost with all the characters @_@. So, without further ado...  
  
Chapter 6: Just when you thought everything changed... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Whistling a random tune to himself as he happily trotted along the top of a fence in his normal manner, calmly making his way to school. After the night several days ago, it seemed like things only got better. He felt so much more free than he did before, like a ball and chain was removed from his ankles, and for the first time in a long time, he could bounce about happily. It did really seem like he had made new friends, that really cared for him (Some seemed to care more than others), and that didn't ask for his hand in marriage or announce death threats whenever they spotted him. Though it did seem like a certain several of them would be more than willing to be his wife if he asked.  
  
Juuban seemed to be adapting to having Ranma amongst it's streets, people now easily recognized him by site and either ran for their homes, fearing for their lives (which was the most common, much to Ranma's dismay), or greet him enthusiastically, glad to have a new protector of sorts. His newest companions were of the latter group.  
  
So busy in his thoughts of the 180 degree spring on his life, he almost failed to notice Usagi creeping up behind him to scare him. Almost.  
  
Poor Usagi got the surprise of a lifetime as her prey suddenly vanished in a rush of air. Confused, she glanced about, searching for her lost target until a calloused finger poked her in the back of the head.  
  
"Gotcha."  
  
Usagi frowned, stomped her foot and turned about-face to stare into Ranma's chest, and then raised her eyes into his. "Meanie!"  
  
It had become a daily ritual every morning for them. The first day, Ranma had been caught as he was too deep in thought over current matters pertaining to his life, but ever since then he had always managed to notice her before she had a chance to get within a couple feet. Almost like a game between siblings, just to bug one another or extract giggle.  
  
Ranma pouted and his lip quivered in mock pain "Oh, is that really how you think of me Usagi-chan!?"  
  
"Yes!" A bonk over the head with her schoolbag supported her statement.  
  
Acting hurt, Ranma took a dramatic pose with his hand resting on his forehead, "Oh, for woe is me, the ball-headed girl of my dreams thinks nothing more of me than a spineless bully, oh the shame!" They both knew Ranma was joking, Usagi already had a boyfriend and the thought of a relationship between them just seemed. wrong.  
  
This earned him another swat over the head, though this time it was accompanied by a set of giggles. "Come on you, we are going to be late again."  
  
It was surprising to Ranma himself how much he had loosened up in Juuban, especially around his new friends. No nervousness (even at how strong some were coming on) just a sense of belonging, like a piece of him had been missing for a long time, but was now restored with their presence.  
  
Setting off at a reasonable pace, Ranma and Usagi headed towards Juuban high, discussing various plans for the day.  
  
They arrived at school minutes before the tardy bell, taking their respective seats and preparing for class.  
  
Time slowly ticked by, dragging seconds into minutes and minutes into hours.  
  
Ranma's head was currently resting on his hand which was propped up by his elbow. He found it difficult to keep his attention on the teacher. It wasn't that he found it boring, it was just too easy. He had already learned today's lesson, and even read into tomorrow's lesson last night. Thus, he found his eyelids drooping, and the sweet pull of sleep becoming too much. 'Just a little longer." Ranma thought, looking up at the clock and finding that only 10 minutes of class had gone by. 'Aw damn.'  
  
Ami too, was not paying attention. A dilemma had occurred the night before, when she had tried to search for files on this 'Sailor Nemesis' The mercury computer however, did not contain any information on the subject. Not one scrap was found, even after she had hacked through several files and turned them upside down looking for information. Apparently, someone did not want anyone to find any information about this particular subject.  
  
Usagi was standing in the hall with a sign that said 'I was sleeping in class' tied around her neck. She was pouting, cursing her luck as she tugged at the uncomfortable sign.  
  
Makoto and Minako were staring longingly at the hunk that had been dropped into their laps, only to find that he had been promised to another. The memory of the talk was still fresh in their minds as they sighed at the same time, making Ranma glance at them uncomfortably and shift so that they couldn't see his face.  
  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-Hikawa Shrine, 3 days earlier-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
"Well... he sure doesn't seem evil." Minako pointed out as they sat there in silence.  
  
No one else could really argue with that, though they had been fooled before. So, they would still keep a close eye on him, even if they didn't think that he was a bad guy.  
  
"Oh! Setsuna, you never told us who Ranma-kun was engaged to!"  
  
Setsuna bit her lip. She knew some of the senshi would not like this... "Well, the person he's engaged to is..."  
  
Silence dominated the room as they all stared intently at Setsuna, anxiously awaiting her answer.  
  
"Me."  
  
Minako looked shocked, and Makoto shook her head in disbelief.  
  
"No way!" Rei shouted, "You are way too uptight and anal to get engaged!"  
  
Setsuna's eye twitched and she looked up at Rei, a promise of a painful death in her eyes. "What?"  
  
Rei gulped and giggled, and Minako and Makoto wisely chose to keep their mouths shut.  
  
"I believe what she was trying to say." Haruka interrupted calmly, "Is that you never seemed like the type to get involved in a relationship."  
  
Sighing, Setsuna nodded slightly and her eyes glazed over as she remembered her fiancée. "After him, I never considered another man."  
  
"That good?" Makoto asked, the romance of it all capturing her heart.  
  
"Better." Setsuna stated as she smiled gently. "I wasn't the only senshi in love with him though."  
  
Some of the girls stopped and looked at Setsuna.  
  
Setsuna chuckled. "He was one of the only men in the Silver Millennium that did not fear us. and was 'unique' himself. That and he wasn't as old or ugly as the others. He understood us better, the fear of us and the desire to be loved, wanted, and needed by someone."  
  
The gathered senshi regarded each other with different feelings on the matter.  
  
"Everything is different now though. we are different now. And I imagine he is too." The others were visibly relieved by this.  
  
"So. you think Ranma is the last senshi?" Usagi asked in a calm and stern manner, one that she rarely showed.  
  
Setsuna shook her head, "It is difficult to tell, but I do believe that he is."  
  
"But what about the black moon on his forehead?" Ami interjected, receiving nods of agreement.  
  
Setsuna giggled girlishly, much unlike herself. "I simply believe that his life has caused the chaotic nature of his origins to show before his Life magic comes back."  
  
"So, he isn't evil?" Minako asked, little hearts in her eyes. She knew he wasn't a bad guy from the start, but nobody believed her.  
  
Setsuna shot her a glare, "I don't believe so, but I won't let you lay a finger on him!"  
  
The senshi froze and stared at Setsuna, the outburst greatly unlike her.  
  
Realizing that she had gotten carried away, Setsuna laughed dryly. "Sorry, but I have waited since the Silver Millennium to be with him. Forgive me if I get possessive."  
  
Minako and Makoto scowled, already plotting to capture Ranma for themselves. If Setsuna thought that them being engaged made him off limits, she was wrong.  
  
"It's like something out of the latest princess manga Rei!" Usagi exclaimed happily, sighing.  
  
"That's were it went! Give that back meatball head!"  
  
The meeting went tumbling down a cliff from there.  
  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-Juuban High-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
Ranma winced and thanked the gods that his fiancées had not showed up yet as another set of longing sighs came from Minako and Makoto. 'What is it with women and craving guys? I thought that guys were more perverted. like Hiroshi and Daisuke. but those two,' Ranma glanced at them and immediately wished he hadn't as they giggled silently and waved, a slight flush coloring their cheeks. 'Man they are worse than any guy I have met.' Of course, Happosai wasn't considered because Ranma wasn't sure if it was male.  
  
Class ended after what seemed like an eternity, and Ranma grabbed his bento that his mother so kindly provided, and leapt out the window as usual.  
  
Makoto growled as she put the bento she made for Ranma down. "Darn it! I will never get used to him doing that."  
  
Using the time that Makoto was distracted, Minako ran out of the class and down stairs, rushing to get to get to the tree where Ranma usually sat.  
  
Sighing to himself, Ranma tried to ignore the stares as screams were heard from in the building, followed by loud crashes and the sound of blunt objects hitting flesh. Wincing, Ranma shook his head and continued eating as Makoto and Minako fought each other down the stairs of the school, before finally running out, biting, tripping, kicking and screaming at each other the entire time. A reasonable amount of sweat gathered on Ranma's brow as the two approached.  
  
"Ranma, I made this bento for you!"  
  
"No, try mine Ranma!"  
  
"Hey! I made that Minako!"  
  
The accused pulled down her eyelid and stuck her tongue out at Makoto. "All's fair in love and war! Bleh!"  
  
In the meantime, a woman stared out her office window down at the courtyard and cursed loudly, rage slowly building as she watched the two with Ranma. Her eye twitched dangerously and her mouth curved into a cruel smile.  
  
"Apparently they had not taken my warning seriously. They shall learn then, oh yes indeed, they will learn." Setsuna tipped her head back and cackled maniacally, a glint of madness in her eye. The pen in her hand snapped from the pressure of Setsuna's hand, and sprayed a thick coat of black ink over her face and blouse. Setsuna cried out in surprise and fell backwards in her chair, landing very roughly on her back.  
  
Glaring at the sky, Setsuna muttered about comedians as she arose again, and went in search of some cleaner for her shirt.  
  
Despite his new attitude about school, Ranma found the Etruscan slave revolt as interesting as a growing toenail, and thus had his head rested on his desk as his eyes sagged dangerously, warning him of what was to come.  
  
'No. I can't fall asleep! I said I was gonna do better and pay attention! There is no way that I am gonna. bah, who am I kidding.' Sleep soon engulfed Ranma in her tender caress, and luckily the teacher could not hear the soft snores coming from his prone form.  
  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-The void of the dream world-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
He was giddy with excitement. It was a ball. His first ball. The only one he had been allowed to come to. He was sure if he was good enough, that his mother may allow him to come to another. Glancing behind him, the adolescent glowered at the pair of guards that watched over him like a hawk. But he wasn't about to let them ruin his fun. He had never been to a banquet, and he would be damned if he'd let a couple of stupid oafs ruin it.  
  
Sure, people were scared of him. Scared of how easily the senshi could fall to him. In truth, with how well the senshi were doing with none magical attacks these days, they could probably give him a run for his money. Not like he wanted to fight them though, most of them were really nice to him. Especially his sister.  
  
And so, he watched the people dance, his brain soaking up the steps like a sponge. Isolation really made him eager to learn about anything he could get his hands on, that wasn't in the small library mother let him use.  
  
"So Terry, how are the children?" The boy questioned, turning to one of his guards.  
  
The guard smiled and nodded. "Very well, Little Patricia turned 5 just last week."  
  
Smiling, he nodded to his companion and long time overseer. "Very good. What happened to Arthur?"  
  
Terry frowned and shook his head. "I hear he got stationed somewhere else."  
  
"Too bad, he was just opening up too."  
  
Chuckling at the boy's statement, Terry nod. "Indeed."  
  
Their conversation was cut short when a stunningly beautiful young woman strode up to his corner chair, and held her hand out. "Do you care to dance, prince?"  
  
Smiling nervously, he took her hand and rose, accompanying her to the ballroom floor. Terry smiled and shook his head. "About goddamn time one of them came over here."  
  
The other guard merely grunted and continued watching.  
  
She was dressed in a flowing violet dress, shimmering like the ocean reflecting the evening sky. Her hips swayed with each step, causing more of the hypnotic sparkling that now had him captivated. Her eyes were of the same beautiful color, and he felt like he could stare into them forever, and be consumed by dreams.  
  
The song started just as the clasped hands together, and began swaying.  
  
Not having any experience in this sort of dance, he stumbled along, tripping over his feet and scuttling along, though being careful not to step upon her feet. Surveying others, he quickly had learned the steps, and began moving with a fluid grace, not unlike the oceanic feel of his companions dress. Together they captivated the audience, spinning and swaying, getting lost in each others eyes. Despite their young age, they both held an air of maturity, superiority even over others nearby.  
  
The song ended all too soon for him, and he did not even recognize the applauding and shouts of approval from the many guests, and he suspected his partner did not either, as she leaned forward and captured his lips with her own, the soft and wet lips surprising him as she leaned ever forward. The moist warmth slowly engulfed his mind, and he soon found himself returning the favor with equal fervor. All too soon, it ended and they pulled apart, his own deep gray and blue orbs staring into her vast violet ones.  
  
"I. I think I am falling in l-love with you. Ranma."  
  
Ranma merely stared into her eyes for several long moments, before pulling her into a tight embrace and whispering comforting words into her ear.  
  
This did not go unnoticed by another young woman, clad in a jade green dress of her own, as she scowled at the exchange.  
  
"RANMA!?"  
  
His eyes snapped open and his head shot up, quickly recovering from the dream he had been having.  
  
"Mr. Saotome, please go join Ms. Tsukino in the hall."  
  
Ranma barely recognized his teacher's voice, and found the lingering scent of flowers in his nose matching to the one that the girl's hair in his dream smelt like. A soothing yet exotic blend of rich, velvety scents had been very prominent in her hair. And. it was good.  
  
Looking down at his hands, as Ranma exited the class and walked into the hall, Ranma saw the odd bracers he couldn't remove pulsating with a gentle blue hue, glowing dimly.  
  
"You too huh?"  
  
Ranma looked up at Usagi and down at the sign around his neck, that matched Usagi's own.  
  
"Yeah. Etruscan slaves just aren't my thing."  
  
Usagi giggled and sighed, "These signs sure are stupid."  
  
Ranma nodded and leaned against the wall. "At least we don't have to hold buckets of water."  
  
-_-_-_-_-_Later that day, before dinner and sometime after school got out._- _-_-_-_-  
  
Ranma sighed, rarely glancing beside him to inspect the stores as he meandered through the mall. He had no real reason to be there, though it had seemed like a more interesting place to go to then home.  
  
"Then at least." Ranma muttered, ignoring the giggles form girls as they watched him pass. "And what is it with all these girls and staring at me!? I mean, I thought this was what guys did, well. apart from the giggling. But, I never thought girls would be like this. Of course, my experience with women isn't the greates."  
  
Ranma's conversation with himself was cut short when a familiar tingle in the back of his head ran down his spine, causing his entire body to shudder involuntarily. Something was going to happen. something bad.  
  
Right on time, the shop he stood next to exploded in a fiery burst, throwing the martial artist back like a limp rag and crashing into the stone wall opposite where he had been standing.  
  
Quick to rise to his feet, Ranma looked around and surveyed the damage. Moaning bodies of other lay upon the ground, a thick crimson pool slowly growing underneath their shuddering forms.  
  
Flaming debris and chunks of granite checkered the floor, a thin layer of stone dust settling on the chunks of rock and bodies.  
  
Looking up to see who or what caused such a horrific seen, Ranma's eyes widened at the sight of the creature before him. It was a humanoid, this was certain. Imagine a human, but the lower halves of both of his arms grew into giant claws, strong enough to bend steel like tin foil. And sprouting from his back, a gigantic tail, twitching ever so slightly to the slightest movement. And at the end, a large stinger, capable of injecting a venom into someone that would kill them in minutes. Such was the beast before Ranma. A combination of a scorpion and a man, grotesque in appearance, and a cold blooded killer as well.  
  
Ranma's eyes narrowed in cold fury as he looked upon the monster, a rage unlike any he had felt before brewing inside, fueling his contempt and malice for the demon.  
  
Surveying his handiwork, it smiled a cruel, toothy grin as it watched the humans moan in agony. It could feel the horror and helplessness radiate off of these pathetic mortals and it slowly began to absorb their lives to feed its master, when it finally discovered one human, who had not fallen to its attack. And apparently, he was very angry.  
  
Ranma spared not a moment as he rushed forward and landed a very powerful punch on his opponents face, causing the beast to fly backwards into the wall, caving it in around and top of it.  
  
Surveying the ruins for several seconds, scanning for any sign of the beast, Ranma sighed as he found none and ran back to the injured and began to drag them away from the store that had exploded, which was slowly collapsing in on itself, debris flying off of the store walls as smaller explosions rocked the frame.  
  
Ranma hurried to another man and began to pull him away from any immediate danger, when a familiar tingle ran down his spine, causing his senses to automatically rise to their full potential.  
  
He never even had time to think before the pincer smashed into the side of his face, sending him flying through the mall, and crashing through several pillars of stone before he finally settled to a stop amidst the stony wreckage.  
  
Rubbing his sore jaw, Ranma winced as he realized that the monster could dish out as well as take a hit. He knew one punch wasn't going to kill the thing, he had only wished to delay it to try and help some of the innocents.  
  
Standing upon shaky legs, Ranma rose and glared at the foul creature before him, before taking up a strong offensive stance and smirking ever so slightly, one of the smirks that makes his opponents blood boil and get so angry they casually make mistakes.  
  
Ranma became unnerved when the monster returned the smirk, a maniacal glint in his eye.  
  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
Ami quickly checked her beeping Mercury Computer, and gasped as she immediately contacted Usagi. The levels of energy it had picked up were unreal. She had not seen this kind of power since Metallia, and that made her all the more nervous.  
  
"Usagi? We have a problem."  
  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
The scouts one by one gathered outside the mall, all already transformed and ready to go.  
  
"So, why exactly did you call us Usagi?" Minako asked, slightly miffed that her boy watching was interrupted.  
  
A loud explosion shook the ground beneath them as a burst of flame suddenly rose from the mall, and the sound of stone crashing and tumbling soon followed.  
  
"That's what." Usagi said, displaying an unnerving cool in the situation as she stared angrily at the mall. From what Ami had told her, this youma was powerful. More powerful than any she or the other scouts had seen. But why? Crystal Tokyo was supposed to be the future; no more youma should come other than Beryl's leftovers, which were hardly powerful at all.  
  
Haruka grinned and cracked her knuckles. "I've been itching for a fight to take out some frustrations on."  
  
"Hold Uranus. This youma is more powerful than those we fought before. I can't understand how it is here, but be wary of it." Ami said, gazing almost calmly at her computer display.  
  
"What're we waiting for then! Let's go!" Makoto shouted, and was quickly backed up by the others as Usagi led them all inside.  
  
"So where is this thing!?" Rei asked Usagi, who was squinting to see past the dust that had been formed from smashed stone.  
  
"Follow the explosions!" Ami shouted, as another deafening crash echoed throughout the mall and caused the senshi to shutter.  
  
When they finally came upon the beasts location, the sight caused some to retch in disgust as they got a glimpse of the bodies. Bloody and broken, bent at unnatural angles with expressions of sheer terror on their face. A pool of coagulating blood slowly drying beneath their still forms, staining their clothes and skin.  
  
Looking up, Usagi scanned for the monster, a rage filling her being unlike any she had felt before. "Where are you monster!? Come out! We are the Sailor Senshi and in the name of Love and Justice, We will Punish you!"  
  
Her speech ended and only the clatter of something moving was heard. Each senshi readied their attacks and gazed at the thick cloud of dust that their eyes failed to pierce, catching glimpses of a shadow moving within.  
  
Usagi squinted and prepared to attack, when the figure came into view.  
  
His clothes were a wreck, ripped and torn in various places, and beneath these areas there were deep lacerations and cuts, stained a thick crimson as his blood slowly dribbled out of them. Various bruises, blemishes and burns scarred his body, his cheek swollen and nearly purple from the initial hit.  
  
"Get out of here! You don't know what you're dealing with!"  
  
The scout's eyes widened as they took in the beaten and bloodied form of Ranma.  
  
"What are you doing here!?" Rei shouted, concern heavily laced in her eyes.  
  
Before Ranma could answer, a deeper and infinitely colder voice answered.  
  
"I'll teach you to turn your back on me in a fight!"  
  
Ranma turned around with an expression of terror on his face, and screamed out as a gigantic pincer wrapped around his torso, squeezing him so tightly that several ribs cracked. His scream became louder, and the senshi's blood curdled as they heard the cry of pain.  
  
Ranma winced and looked up at the youma, contempt easily seen in his eye.  
  
"Fool. Now, you die!"  
  
Ranma's eyes only had time to widen slightly, his pupils become dilated as the tail of the scorpion/man came down and struck true, piercing his skin.  
  
The senshi watched, frozen in horror as the youma's tail came out of Ranma's back, dripping with a mixture of clear fluid and Ranma's own lifeblood, dripping onto the granite and causing a thick smoke to rise from the eerie concuction.  
  
Ranma gagged and retched as he felt the venom spread through his body. A thick fluid that slowly stopped his heart and blood, making him stiff. He cringed as he raised one of his arms at the creature, and uttered his attack with a weak voice.  
  
"Mouko Takahabashi."  
  
The beast raised a brow, as a golden light filled Ranma's hand, then lanced forward and struck it in the face, causing it to cry out and drop Ranma, instinctively bringing it's pincers to it's face to try and shield the blow but the damage was already done.  
  
Ranma growled as he slowly crawled to the wall, leaning against it in a sitting position. He knew he was dying. His chest felt so heavy, like someone stood on him, and each breath was heavily labored. He fingers and feet were numb with cold, and it slowly grew dim at the edge of his vision.  
  
"Sailor Moon! Saturn! Go help him, we will take on this guy!" Rei shouted. And Usagi turned to protest but saw the pleading look in Setsuna's eyes, nodded and ran over to Ranma's form with Hotaru, and immediately begin to work the crystals magic, trying to bring Ranma back from unconsciousness.  
  
The youma snarled as it finally could see again, albeit from one eye. The human had been strong enough to burn half of it's face off, and it was none too happy. It looked for it's target of vengeance, but was cut short by a shout.  
  
"Dead Scream!"  
  
The blast knocked the youma backwards and skidding across the floor, creating a light trench in the stone.  
  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
Usagi pleaded with Ranma's still form as she pumped more and more energy into him. Hotaru did not speak, but had a worried expression on her face as she too injected him with her healing powers, hoping to revive Ranma.  
  
Both were unaware of the bright flash the crystal gave off.  
  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
Moaning and rising, Ranma clutched his head with one hand as the other supported him upright in a seating position.  
  
Glancing about, Ranma took in his surroundings and his brow furrowed when all he could see was black. Rising on unsteady legs to his feet, Ranma became curious.  
  
"Where am I? The last thing I remember was fighting that scorpion guy and." Realization struck Ranma like a ton of bricks. "Am I dead?"  
  
"Nearly. On the brink one could say."  
  
Ranma turned to the voice, his arms raised in a ready position as he quickly analyzed the person.  
  
What he saw was not what he had expected. A woman, with a soft and gentle face looked back with a warm and loving gaze. "Hello Ranma. My name is Queen Serenity."  
  
Ranma blinked and waved. "Uh, hi."  
  
Queen Serenity giggled slightly as his lack of conduct, but smiled regardless and asked, "Ranma, do you believe in reincarnation?"  
  
Ranma blinked again and took up a thoughtful expression. "I guess it's possible, I never really thought about it."  
  
The queen smiled and nodded. "It is very much so possible Ranma, the Sailor Senshi are all reincarnations of warriors from an empire I used to rule, many, many years ago."  
  
Ranma nodded a bit, still wary of what was going on. "So. what does this have to do with me?"  
  
The queen smiled softly, a smile that made her beauty radiate and her kindness spread to Ranma's heart. "You are the reincarnation of my son, Ranma."  
  
"I'm a prince!? A dead prince!?" Ranma shouted, his eyes bugging out and his face screwing into an expression of deep confusion.  
  
A light laugh, like a dew on spring day answered and Serenity shook her head. "No Ranma, you are very much alive. You are my son, and I wish to awaken your true heritage. If I am to do this, I have to change you."  
  
Ranma's look became one of a skeptic, but he kept his opinions to himself.  
  
"I give you a choice, Ranma. In this hand," She raised her right and a soft glowing orb of a sapphire blue energy appeared, bobbing and dancing above her hand. "I hold your current life. Everything about you is here. In this hand." Raising her left hand, another orb appeared, though this one was a soft silvery-gray. "I hold your past life, memories and all. I give you the choice Ranma."  
  
Ranma looked up at her and tried to read her expression for any trickery or deceit, but found nothing but honesty. He frowned and placed his chin in his hands, concentrating deeply on the matter at hands.  
  
It seemed to stretch on forever, but in truth it was only a matter of minutes. Serenity raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly at his decision as he reached out to make his choice.  
  
AN: X247, I know you are reading this. And all I have to say is I TOLD YOU SO =P MUWHAHAHAHA (Evil Laugh) I will now torment my readers with ANOTHER LENGTHY RANDOM UPDATE!!!! *gets smacked in the head be a mallet* Itai! Or not. _ I plan on alternating updating this and Chaos and Carnage (my other fic) so the variety should help me update a bit faster. I thank Integra-Hellsing for the offer to continue this fic, but I am still working on it, albeit slowly. Ja ne (review please!) -Gundraw 


	7. Chapter 7

Ranma: King of Storms Chapter 7  
  
The Awakening  
  
Ranma looked up at her and tried to read her expression for any trickery or deceit, but found nothing but honesty. He frowned and placed his chin in his hands, concentrating deeply on the matter at hands. He knew he should be frightened, for if what she said was true, then he was making a life changing decision, but he couldn't bring himself to be. The woman before him seemed to give off an aura of peace... tranquility. He found himself welcoming the waves of serenity that seemed to come off the woman, for it felt quite nice instead of the constant chaos that seemed to surround him.  
  
It seemed to stretch on forever, but in truth it was only a matter of minutes. Serenity raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly at his decision as he reached out to make his choice...  
  
Ranma nodded to himself, reaching for the choice he had made. He knew not if it was a correct choice, but it was his to make...  
  
~_~_~_~Juuban Mall~_~_~_~  
  
Rei growled as the youma shrugged off her attack, seemingly unaffected by the burst of flame. 'There has got to be something that can hurt this guy...' She thought, quickly putting some distance between her and the monster that had just barely missed hitting her. "Mercury! Do you have anything yet?!" She yelled, but stayed focused on the demon before her.  
  
Ami cursed as she kept scanning. The mercury computer was having a difficult time analyzing this one, and the results were not looking favorable. It seemed to be resilient to every kind of attack they threw at it. How Ranma managed to bang it up was a big mystery to her. "No, I need a little bit more time, keep stalling!"  
  
"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" Makoto cried out, only to watch the attack get swatted away by the youma who now turned its attention to her, snarling angrily. She immediately began to plan a new strategy as she avoided the large spine on the end of the tail of the youma, which sank deep into the concrete before coming out once again.  
  
"Dead Scream!"  
  
"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"  
  
"Mars Flame Sniper!"  
  
"World Shaking!"  
  
"Deep Submerge!"  
  
Each attack sailed towards it target and intersected with a grand combination of magical energies, exploding in a fantastic display of colors and power. A large amount of stone dust was picked up, and it prevented the scouts from seeing their target, and any damage they had done.  
  
A loud roar of pain and outrage rang out, and the scouts immediately took their positions, ready for more.  
  
Hotaru glanced over to Usagi, who was still watching Ranma.  
  
"It sounds like they need help. Maybe one of us should..."  
  
Usagi nodded and watched Ranma for a second more, before turning her vision to Hotaru. "I will watch over him. They need your help. Your attacks are more powerful anyway, and it sounds like they need it."  
  
Hotaru nodded and gave a faint smile to the future queen, before rising with her glaive and running towards the fight.  
  
Usagi looked down at Ranma again and sighed. "Hang in there..."  
  
~_~_~_~Ranma's mind~_~_~_~  
  
Ranma's hands clasped over both the orbs at once, and a feeling of warmth spread through his body. "If... what you say is true, then I am both Ranma and your son... I cannot be one or the other, my spirit is the same."  
  
Queen Serenity smiled and nodded. "Always the wise one, you were. I warn you, you have chosen the most difficult and painful path, but also the most rewarding... good luck, my son."  
  
Before Ranma had a chance to speak to her, she faded from view.  
  
Ranma blinked and looked around. "Shouldn't I be feeling something different? Or remember something?"  
  
He spoke to soon.  
  
All he knew was pain. It hit like lightning, and ran through his being, ripping every cell apart at the same time. He tried to scream, but couldn't, he found that all his body was able to do was spasm and convulse erratically. Memories slowly sifted into his mind, of his mother, his heritage, his legacy.  
  
Inside his body, a great change was being made. Each cell was being changed. His DNA remained the same, leaving him as Ranma Saotome, but a large amount of chaotic and life magics were infused into his being, once again creating the void that had once existed long ago. The aura of chaos around him faded, and was replaced with one of nothing. No longer could magic exist nearby the boy known as Ranma Saotome. But these were amongst the beginning of the changes.  
  
The bracers on his arms suddenly glowed brighter than they ever had, and electricity slowly arced out and crawled along his body. Air began to flow out of them, spiraling upward in motion.  
  
With the last of his strength, Ranma looked toward the heavens as his eyes burned again, like a white hot pike being driven into his skull, and screamed. His pupils slowly faded from sight, before disappearing altogether, but were replaced when the small tornadoes from his wrists turned and connected into his eyes, creating a tube of wind running between his arms and head.  
  
His scream raised in volume as the heat in his eyes grew worse, and it felt like someone had placed their fingers around his eyes and twisted them, mashing them into a pile of white goo.  
  
The bracers glow stopped and the small whirlwinds were no longer being created, and the rest were sucked into his eyes, before everything became white...  
  
~_~_~Juuban Mall, several minutes prior~_~_~  
  
Usagi became worried when her new friend had started convulsing on the floor, saliva slowly leaking out of his mouth. She was sure he was having a seizure, and made to help him up when his bracers started glowing brightly.  
  
She unconsciously scooted back as she watched them glow brighter and brighter, an eerie silvery blue color that was so much like Ranma's eyes. She grew more frightened when electricity began pouring out from them, running over his body and onto the floor before disappearing.  
  
"What's going on over there!?" Rei shouted, blocking her eyes with her arm so she could see, the glow from the bracers becoming too bright to look at.  
  
The senshi and the youma forgot their fight as the figure of Ranma lifted off the ground, floating toward the center of the mall, near where they were fighting. The youma growled as it felt the power grow within the one it had taken down. So far, it had caused the most damage, and the youma was worried about that one the most. These pathetic girls could wait.  
  
The senshi too took flight, pursuing Ranma's body as it rose to the ceiling of the mall, where a large glass bubble was, allowing one to see the sky from within the confines of the mall.  
  
All present watched in silent awe as Ranma's body straightened as if it were standing, then looked to the sky with a limp head.  
  
The senshi too looked, and too their surprise the sky was overcast, a dark gray layer of clouds residing above them.  
  
"Wasn't it sunny earlier?" Haruka stated, looking at the sky with concern.  
  
The other nodded numbly in response.  
  
A bolt of lightning reigned down from the sky above, colliding with the glass barrier and shattering it immediately, causing glass to fall on the spectators, who now realized how strong the winds were. Their fuku's billowed wildly as the gale-like winds blew into the mall, scattering loose paper and plants with ease.  
  
The senshi quickly took hold of various benches and poles to keep their footing, and the youma wrapped its tail around a railing to keep itself from getting blown away.  
  
All watched, amazement etched on their faces as a tornado formed, rapidily increasing in size and ferocity as it lowered to Ranma. The other could only watch in horror as their friend was about to be engulfed by the gigantic whirlwind, when something happened they did not expect. The tornado split, with two ends heading toward Ranma that were both fairly small. They slowly waved erratically, nearing Ranma's limp form before suddenly snapping to his eyes and being sucked into his body.  
  
They watched, trying to push the gruesome images of his eyes being sucked out by the tornado and his head ripped apart from the inside by the force of nature. Many had to look away as they did not want to see his end. They heard him scream, a scream of agony and pain as they were sure his end had come.  
  
The winds died down and the tornado slowly died down, the winds becoming nothing more than a mere breeze. The fuku-clad girls reluctantly looked up, hoping they wouldn't spy blood on the roof. Immediately, they noticed that Ranma was indeed still alive and hanging in the air still.  
  
Another bolt of lightning reigned down from the heavens, and into the mouth of Ranma, which was still open from his scream. The watching sailor senshi and youma had to divert their eyes as the bolt came down, and struck Ranma, sinking down into his deep inner being. The ray stayed in contact with Ranma for several more seconds, before it stopped and a loud roar of thunder followed.  
  
Silence reigned over the mall, the witnesses of the event too scared to look at Ranma or speak, much less move.  
  
The youma growled deeply as it felt its original foe's power back up to levels higher than it had before. It needed to remedy this, and quick. Turning to see the boy that dared oppose one great as itself, the beast turned, and his pupils suddenly grew at the sight.  
  
The senshi too looked up at that time, and gasped at the display.  
  
Seemingly standing on air, Ranma stood. His eyes were locked with the youma's, a silent promise of pain being dealt. An enormous black cape, full of rips and tears fluttered in the breeze behind him, and his torso was clad with a pearly white armor that glimmered fluorescently in the light. His legs too were adorned with segmented white armor, which was obviously meant for movement. Curling around his right leg, and up around his torso, a gold dragon was engraved into the armor, and the head finally came to a rest upon his breast, near his heart.  
  
Upon his waist, a black slash was tied loosely, hanging lopsidedly from his figure. Upon the sash, a custom made sheath was placed, and in it was his flute.  
  
His hair now had erratic streaks of silvery blue, looking much like lightning through his hair. Upon his forehead, a crescent moon was tattooed, golden at the middle but slowly darkening to a midnight black at both points. His eyes had taken a drastic change. The same cobalt blue color was there, but more silver and gray was easily seen, but what really made them interesting was that now they seemed to spiral into a small pupil, the eye of the storm.  
  
He gently drifted to the ground, the cold gaze never leaving his eyes as he watched the youma carefully, analyzing it.  
  
"WHAT IS THIS!?" The youma bellowed, obviously quite angry at the current state of affairs. "I killed you, puny human! Just who are you!?"  
  
Ranma simply stared for a moment more, before he answered. His voice was calm and collected, seemingly unaware of the dangers he might be in. "iI am Ranma Saotome. Senshi of Chaos. Heir to the Anything Goes School of martial arts. King of Storms./i"  
  
Setsuna's eyes widened slightly and a love struck gaze soon could be found on her face. "He has awakened."  
  
The youma snarled in disgust and charged Ranma, fully intent on permanently killing the human.  
  
Ranma stared at the charging youma for several seconds more, before a near feral grin emerged on his face.  
  
The youma quickly lashed out with it's pincers, snipping at the insolent being who dared challenge it's power. Unlike before however, the youma found its pincers snapping at nothing but air. And all the while, Ranma stood there, smiling at the youma's confusion.  
  
The monster growled and stopped it's snapping. "So, you got better. No matter, I killed you once, I can do it again!"  
  
"Ranma!" Makoto cried, seeing the motions that the youma was making, only to be stopped by a hand. Expecting Setsuna to be the one holding her back, she lashed out at the one who the hand belonged to. She was not expecting to see Usagi staring at her, holding the had that had attacked her.  
  
"Leave m brother be... He knows what he is doing."  
  
"B-Br-brother?!" Makoto nearly shrieked, obviously unaware of the relationship between Usagi and Ranma.  
  
"Well, past brother at least. Half-brother that is... Remember, Serenity's blood runs through him too."  
  
Makoto eyes widened in comprehension, as she turned back to the fight and watched intently.  
  
Ranma looked the youma in the eye, seemingly unaware of the large scorpion tail right above his head.  
  
The youma snarled with glee as it watched Ranma. "Now you die!" It's tail darted downward, expecting to impale Ranma's skull with the venomous stinger. Instead however, Ranma's arm blurred and caught the stinger, mere millimeters from his forehead.  
  
The youma's grin evaporated and Ranma's grew. "Too slow."  
  
Time slowed to a crawl as the senshi watched Ranma leap into the air, drifting slowly upward with the stinger still in his hand. He rose up, his legs crouching beneath him until he was slightly above the youma's head, the extended his leg and whipped about at inhuman speeds, smashing his heel into the monster's face and creating a large crater in the monster's skull.  
  
Time resumed it's speed and the youma went flying across the mall, crashing into a store and embedding itself in the wall, before falling to the ground with a groan.  
  
Ranma however, still drifted in the air as if he was still moving in slow motion, his foot still extended and his face emotionless, before he drifted to the ground and landed silently. He calmly raised his hand to the shattered skylight, and his eyes and bracers flared a silverish-blue again, before another lightning bolt came down and struck Ranma's hand. But far from being hurt, Ranma's mouth contorted into a sneer as the lightning was compressed into a crackling ball of energy. Pumping some ki into it, just to make sure, Ranma lowered his hand and aimed at the store.  
  
"iInazuma ha/i(1)"  
  
The ball shot forward, leaving arcs of electric current floating in the air behind it, before it collided with the store and exploded with a gigantic rumble like thunder, and giant streams of electricity shot out from the opening of the store, running along the ground and through the air before fading away.  
  
Ranma watched the ruins for several seconds more, before turning to the stunned senshi and walking to them. He first approached Usagi, and kneeled deeply to her, bowing his head.  
  
"I pledge you my service and my life, princess."  
  
Usagi giggled and smiled as Ranma stood up, before glomping onto him so hard Shampoo would be jealous.  
  
Ranma's face turned blue as his supply of oxygen was cut off by his klutzy royal sister.  
  
"Uh, Usagi... We do want him to live..." Makoto stated, and Usagi immediately 'eeped' and blushed, returning to her former position.  
  
Setsuna walked forward next, and looked Ranma in the eye for several seconds.  
  
"Hello, Se-chan." Ranma smiled warmly at her, looking into her crimson red eyes.  
  
Setsuna suddenly rushed forward and embraced Ranma, planting her lips on his and pushing her tongue into his mouth in a lusty display.  
  
Makoto and Minako growled and silently vowed that it wasn't over.  
  
Hotaru too, had a look of disapproval on her face.  
  
Ranma, suddenly being French kissed by a well endowed beauty who was wearing nothing but a sailor fuku and rubbing his body was soon aware of the situation and did what any sane boy would do.  
  
Passed out with a gush of blood from his nose and a goofy grin on his face.  
  
Setsuna raised an eyebrow and looked down at her fiancée. "That never happened before..."  
  
~_~_~_~_~_~ I am on a role! *does a jig*  
  
Anyway, I have a favor to ask. I can't draw (well at least) And I think that maybe one of my fans out there can. I just wanted to know if one of you out there could draw the King of Storms after (or during) his transformation, it would be really great. I am getting a website up soon, and your work will be posted there (if you want it to be) as well as my fics. I can see it in my head, but I want to know what you guys think he looks like. Any who, that's all for now.  
  
(1) It should mean Lightning Blast... But I am not Japanese, so I am not sure.  
  
Read and Review please!  
  
Ja! -Gundraw 


	8. Chapter 8

His eyes cracked open, allowing the light to flood his pupils. He almost immediately regretted this, squinting and grunting a bit as his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden change in brightness.  
  
"Shh, he's awake!" Was all he could hear as he once again cracked his eyes open, glancing about and trying to discern his location.  
  
Immediately, he noticed the nine heads that seemed to be leaning over him in a circle, eyes wide with wonder. Various hairstyles and colors flooded his vision and his brow furrowed with confusion as he silently tried to figure out how he had arrived.  
  
Then they rose as he remembered what it was that had happened. Immediately he scanned the faces again, recognizing and matching them to names.  
  
And then, there she was. The woman he remembered from thousands of years ago. The woman that had brought the only happiness he had felt in quite some time. His first and only fiancée.  
  
"Setsuna..." Ranma mumbled, raising shakily and gazing into her ruby-red orbs.  
  
Her eyes grew shiny as the welled tears that were long overdue. A whisper of a smile crossed her lips when he mentioned her lips, and tears began escaping her eyes and trickling down her cheeks. "Ranma..." She whispered, gazing into his eyes and hoping she never had to look away from his cerulean eyes.  
  
Ranma gave her a weak smile and reached up, gently tracing the contours of her face with his finger tips.  
  
Setsuna breathed in raggedly at the contact and shuddered at the gently tingling that spread from her cheek to the rest of her body.  
  
Ranma pulled his hand away and stood, looking at the others sitting in a circle and smiled a warm and calm smile, like someone who just awoke from the most beautiful dream. More then one girl felt their hearts start fluttering and the room getting hot at the sight of his smile.  
  
"Sooo..." Ranma said, taking a look around, curiousity evident in his eyes. "Where am I?"  
  
The girls didn't hear the words, though they saw his mouth move. Here he was, the prince that they had all dreamed of. His powerful figure holding an air of authority and royalty, the ornate armor only added to his air of power, and made the various girls want to be close to him. The girls all sighed in stereo, causing Ranma to sweat nervously as he recognized the love struck gazes he received from all, sans Usagi, Michiru and Haruka, the latter appearing disgusted with him.  
  
"Er... Usagi?" Was all Ranma said as he turned to his sister, who giggled cutely at Ranma's pleading look.  
  
"Looks like Setsuna may have some competition." Michiru said, giggling a little at the hopeless looking boy before her. Haruka only rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, obviously not amused by the antics.  
  
Ranma turned back to the various girls, looking at each of their faces and cringing at the little hearts in each of their eyes.  
  
Setsuna was the first to recover from her love-induced stupor, and she immediately noticed the love struck looks the inners and Hotaru were giving Ranma. A scowl soon formed on her features as she stood and walked up next to Ranma, hugging him close and putting her arms around him. "Oh Ranma! It's so good to see you alive and well!"  
  
The other girls shook themselves out of their fantasies and started glaring at the green-haired, red eyed woman currently hanging off of Ranma as if he were her lifeline.  
  
Ranma could feel the auras of anger and jealousy forming from the inners (and outer) So he gently pried Setsuna off of him and went to sit next to Usagi. He leaned over a bit and whispered in her ear: "You know what's going on?" Though Ranma may have just gained another life full of memories, that didn't mean he was any better at understanding women.  
  
Usagi smiled and wagged her finger at Ranma. "Now why should I tell you?"  
  
Ranma blinked and turned to look at her, before slumping and looking down at his lap. "I forgot how mean you were... Meanie."  
  
He immediately regretted the comment as he saw his sister's eyes begin to well with tears and she started pouting and giving him the dreaded puppy dog look. "Y-You really think of me that way...?" She asked, a lone tear making its way down her cheek.  
  
Ranma leapt up and waved his arms in a warding position. "N-no! Of course not! I was joking!"  
  
Usagi immediately perked up and smiled the tears all but vanishing "Oh, okay then!"  
  
Ranma just stared as Usagi went back to munching on some cookies that were in front of her and smiling as she crunched noisily. "I get the feeling I was just played." Ranma stated, gazing at his sisters form that now appeared completely fine, where she had just been threatening to break out wailing.  
  
"Got that right." Haruka snorted, wrapping an arm around her lover and getting comfortable.  
  
"Right..." Ranma muttered, sitting once again but this time with a sour look on his face.  
  
Setsuna drifted over to him, sitting next to him and cuddling up immediately. "Don't get that way, sweetie. The princess was just having some fun." Ranma grunted and shifted uncomfortably in her arms as she squeezed and rubbed up to him.  
  
Hotaru cocked her head a little, giving her a very cute look as she asked: "Wait, if he's the princess's brother... does that make him a prince?"  
  
Setsuna giggled and rubbed her head against his arm. "Mmmyep!"  
  
Hotaru, Rei, Makoto and Minako all glowered at the over-affectionate Senshi of time with looks that would make Lucifer shiver. She didn't react however, as she was currently resting her head against him with her eyes closed. Ranma swore he felt her purring, but he wasn't about to start complaining.  
  
"So... You're the only male senshi ne?" Michiru asked, deciding that they should start talking about Ranma's powers.  
  
Ranma turned his head and his pupil-less eyes rested on the Senshi of water, and he nodded. "That is true. I was created in a lab by the greatest scientific genius' on the moon. I was intended to be female, but the chaotic energies altered the chromosomes and I became a boy."  
  
Hotaru spoke up, still somewhat shy with Ranma. "So, can you control the weather like Setsuna-mama said?"  
  
Ranma blinked at the –mama suffix, but filed it away to ask later. "Yes. I can directly influence the weather patterns on this or any planet. I believe that my attack showed this, the lightning blast I used to destroy. This earned me the nickname: "The King of Storms." The weather often indicates my mood, and when I fight a storm is a common appearance."  
  
"So could you, make it snow right now?" Makoto inquired, doubting if he could really do it.  
  
Ranma nodded and his bracers and eyes started glowing a cool blue for a second before he looked back at Makoto. "Okay."  
  
The senshi all blinked and unison, looking to one another before standing and rushing outside. Sliding the door open, they all gasped at the fluffy white flakes falling in April and coming to rest upon the ground.  
  
Ranma stood and walked after them, his brows furrowed as he walked and thought to himself. Once he arrived, he spoke up from behind them, startling more than one senshi. "I don't see why you find this amazing; I did much more in our past lives..." Setsuna turned and smiled warmly, just looking at her fiancée sent shivers down her spine. "The senshi do not remember all of their past lives, only bits and pieces."  
  
Eyes widening with understanding, Ranma nodded and watched the Senshi try to catch some of the light puffs in their mouths. A light smile grew on his features as he watched his fellow warriors act so carefree and happy, so unlike how they had acted in the past. Before, it had been all work and no play for them and him too really. But he had been cooped up in the library most of his past life, and he had little to do but learn martial arts, music, and read all of the books in the library. Even the guards started warming up to him, especially once he played some of his music for them.  
  
Ranma leaned against the door jam and reached down to his belt, finding his flute in the pouch that hung from his belt and pulled it out, watching it glow briefly when it came in contact with his smooth flesh. He marveled at the beauty of such a simple object, how it reflected and distorted everything in the vicinity. After he had finished appreciating the beauty of his flute, he raised it to his lips, and began to blow softly, slowly allowing the notes he made come together into a song. He flowed like water with the music, making subtle changes that were hardly noticeable, but made the music all the more enjoyable. The music rolled out in waves, slowly entrancing each of the senshi as the played in the snow. They slowed to halts, each of their eyes closing as the rhythm washed over them. The happy music continued, imbuing the feelings of happiness themselves straight into the senshi as they heard the notes, becoming all the more addicted to the sweet subtlety of the sound.  
  
His gently pulled the instrument away from his mouth, his eyes remaining closed for several seconds before slowly opening and witnessing the effects of his improvised song. Setsuna, who was closest to him, appeared to be having trouble breathing and standing, getting so lost in the music. The other senshi had similar effects to various degrees, and they all slowly returned to the physical realm and gawked at Ranma as he smiled and slid the flute into its proper pouch, before bowing to the crowd.  
  
Clapping started to resound throughout the courtyard, and Ranma perked his head up and looked to find Usagi smiling and clapping as she gazed at her past brother. Others soon began to join in, Michiru being on of the first because she appreciated good music, and Haruka soon joined in her lover, followed by all the others.  
  
Ranma soon grew embarrassed from the attention and started blushing heavily, his cheeks turning a scarlet hue as he chuckled and scratched the base of his pigtail.  
  
Of course, he couldn't do it long because he was nearly tackled from the side by an amorous green headed red eyed woman that seemed attracted to Ranma like a magnet at the moment.  
  
"That was beautiful!" Setsuna sobbed as she squeezed the life out of him quite literally.  
  
Ranma's face turned red, then purple as he wheezed and gasped for air around his loving fiancée.  
  
"You're going to kill him Setsuna!" Several of the others shouted, rushing up to pry the normally cold woman off of her fiancée and possible love interest for the rest of the senshi, excluding Haruka, Michiru and Usagi.  
  
Ranma gasped and gulped air down as the combined strength of the four girls pulled her off, though not without a lot of struggling. Setsuna was still lunging, wishing to only be close to her long lost lover after they had been separate for so long.  
  
Ranma just breathed deeply as he massaged his abused throat, gazing at Setsuna with fearful eyes. He wasn't sure if she was trying to hug him or kill him!  
  
~_~_~_~_~ several minutes later, after Setsuna finally calmed down... ~_~_~_~_~  
  
Ranma sat, watching Setsuna expectantly as she began to voice the reason behind her actions.  
  
"F-forgive me Ranma... I know I was never like this in the past..." This was very true. One of the reasons Ranma was so afraid was because Setsuna had been acting the opposite he expected her to. In the past she was always cold to him, always giving him dirty looks and having no respect for him. She thought of him as an unnatural monster, and insisted the engagement was only because Queen Serenity had decreed that it would happen. For her to act so... affectionate now made Ranma think she was possessed. "You see, 3,000 years is a long time to think... And after you died, everything just seemed darker, lonelier. I thought I would never see you again! I figured that because of your immunity to magic, I wouldn't get the chance to tell you... I love you."  
  
Still as stone, Ranma gazed right back at Setsuna with an open and gaping mouth, unsure of how to act. Setsuna seemed to be expecting something, as did most of the other senshi. So when the question: "How were you sent forward? I thought you were immune to magic?" was voiced, Ranma jumped at the opportunity to change the subject.  
  
"Well, you see..." He began, trying to avoid looking at Setsuna and failing miserably. He winced at the undeniable hurt that was in her eye at Ranma's failure to respond, but continued nonetheless. "My immunity to magic is only because I have an equal amount of Life and Chaos oriented blood, causing a void of all magic to exist throughout my body. When I held the last Youma off, I had lost enough blood that my body, and therefore my soul were susceptible to the effects of Mother's spell."  
  
Ami nodded, understanding the explanation, while Usagi and Minako looked at each other with blank looks.  
  
"So, you are still immune to magic?" Ami asked, genuinely interested in Ranma, who happened to be a product of science.  
  
Ranma chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I was not for the majority of this lifetime, but when I awoke the memories of my past life, I met Mother. I believe that she imbued half of my blood with the Life magic that it had in the past."  
  
"What about the Chaos half?" Setsuna asked in a small voice, trying to appear strong.  
  
Ranma cursed his skills with the opposite sex internally as he responded. "Well, you see that my blood was pure Chaos. In this life, I was born with a curse to live an interesting life, and I acquired more curses along the way, as you all witnessed. Mother only had to convert half to Life to create the void once more."  
  
Not all of the senshi understood the explanation as well as some of the others did, but they all nodded and understood that he was immune to magic.  
  
Ranma glanced at Setsuna one more time and noticed the pained look in her eyes, her soul. She appeared genuinely heartbroken that Ranma had not returned the love she had given him. But Ranma couldn't tell her that he did because he couldn't tell her he felt something he wasn't sure he did. Love was such a foreign concept to him; he had never felt love in this or his past life. Never the tender touch of a mother, and the warm smile she gave you when you accomplished anything. All he had felt was loneliness. He truly wanted to please Setsuna, but that was just not something he could do at the moment.  
  
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~  
  
The man appeared to have a scowl permanently etched into his stony face as he watched the fight repeatedly on the sheet of glass before him.  
  
His face was wrapped in shadows, hiding his face and features from anything that tried to discover what he looked like. Despite his movements, no light was able to penetrate the darkness that surrounded his body, and left the man's appearance an enigma.  
  
On the sheet of glass, a recording played, showing a boy being surrounded by a tornado in a building, before he completely obliterated a creature that resembled a scorpion.  
  
"Gurney!" A deep voice rumbled, calling out for his loyal servant. His voice echoed through the marble palace, which was now acting as his base of operations until he could accomplish several of his goals.  
  
A balding man stepped before the mighty throne that the powerful figure sat upon, his short stature dwarfed even more by the giant of a man that sat before him.  
  
"Y-Yes master...?" Gurney stuttered, his voice high and squeaky. It was obvious just by looking at him that this man was a follower, and would be unable to lead an ant into battle.  
  
The figure gazed upon Gurney in what could only be described in disgust before he spoke again. "The King of Storms has awoken. While this is unexpected and most inconvenient, it does not make my plans impossible."  
  
"S-Should I send out more youma sir?" The mousy man replied, flinching a little at the figure's reaction.  
  
"Youma? Have you not learned anything Gurney? They would be unable to hurt The King of Storms... They are creatures of magic, and thus would be useless. Send out the Shades..."  
  
Gurney's eyes widened in horror at his master's request and voiced his opinion about such a plan. "B-but sir!? The S-Shades!? They are still in development; s-surely you cannot be serious!"  
  
The figure leaned forward, darkness bending around him and engulfing his figure, even once he was in the direct path of one of the overhead lights. "Gurney, do remember what I keep you around for. You are replaceable, fool! Now hurry and get the scientists to release the Shades! I have already sent the necessary information to program their targets."  
  
Gurney whimpered and nodded, bowing with shaky legs before scampering off in the palace, his footsteps echoing in the giant halls.  
  
The figure leaned forward and watched the awakening of Ranma once more before he grinned, several pointed teeth reflecting light and shimmering in the darkness. "So Ranma... Let's see how you do against my creations..."  
  
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~  
  
Whew! This has to be one of my quickest updates (since the beginning at least)! Of course, the last chapter I did was for my other story, but hey, I give you the material, you read it ne?  
  
I must warn you, the story is going to get darker and darker from this point in, so be prepared for some depressing stuff.  
  
I introduced the antagonist, if you couldn't tell ^_^  
  
I had two people tell me they were making fanart from my last update for this story and... I have yet to receive it. ^_^; I am pretty sure they will start working again once their favorite story is updated!  
  
Anyway, Chaos and Carnage is next, sorry about them getting two updates in a row, I just couldn't get the ideas out of my head.  
  
Till next time! Ja!  
  
~Gundraw 


	9. Chapter 9

--Nerima Ward, Sometime Earlier--

Akane was currently sitting at the table, muttering under her breath as she tried to do some homework. Ever since Ranma had left, Nerima had been mostly quiet and calm, sans Kuno who seemed to believe that he owned her now or something. Akane frowned as she thought of Ranma. Not because she was angry with him, but instead because she knew now that she wouldn't be able to do her homework. Thinking of Ranma always did that to her. She sighed and put her things away before flipping on the TV to see if there was something on to distract her.

Her favorite channels currently had nothing of interest on, and Akane didn't feel like surfing the many others, so simply flipped to the news to see what was going on. Nabiki sat at the table, reading a manga and watching idly out the corner of her eye as the newscast continued;

"And in other news, the senshi have a new ally in their fight against the youma in the Juuban ward of Tokyo, Tetsuo has more on this."

"That's right," The man projected onto the television said, wearing a suit that made him appear very professional. "It took place inside one of the larger malls in Juuban just earlier today. We were lucky enough to have a civilian record the fight on his camera, here is the footage."

Akane, now interested watched intently and Nabiki too had been drawn in. The Sailor Senshi were always idolized by young girls, seeing them as the answer to all these male heroes that were in comics and such. The camera was very shaky, disorienting at first, but Akane soon grew used to it. She watched as the camera was directed towards the large glass entrance of the mall, and a fight seemed to be taking place between two figures, one was human, and the other most definitely was not. The senshi had arrived, but the fighter appeared to be holding his own and refused their help. As his back was turned to the beast however, it grabbed him in a mighty pincer and held him tight, and it was obvious, despite the lack of sound from within the mall, it was easily recognizable that the man was in pain beyond compare. The person holding the camera gasped and muttered, "My God..." As the creatures pincer ran the man through. Akane gasped and held her legs close to her body. She was amazed they were showing such gruesome footage. Then, the man held his arm up shakily, very shakily, and Akane and Nabiki knew that he wasn't going to last long. He muttered something and then a golden energy shot from his hand and struck the creature in the face, causing it to throw him away in rage and pain. Nabiki's brows furrowed and Akane's eyes widened when they saw that, for they only knew of one who was able to make energy blasts like that... The fight continued, the senshi having difficulty and not being able to truly harm the beast, when the camera suddenly turned skyward, and the winds picked. Unbelievable as it was, a funnel cloud had formed just above the mall, and was growing steadily. Debris was blown about from the wind as a tornado was formed and began crashing down through the glass roof of the mall, and a body appeared to float into the tornado. Lightning crackled and the man behind the camera started to back up and zoom in further on the figure in the tornado, who appeared to be stationary. Then the lightning struck the figure, and you could make out his eyes from within the column of wind. They were the focal point of the electricity it seemed, the energy crackling about and crawling along his skin. And finally, it stopped. It was so sudden it confused Akane at first, but then she saw the figure that was within, now wearing beautiful armor with a long and flowing tattered cape. His eyes almost seemed to glow with an abundance of energy, and a new moon shaped tattoo resided on his forehead, just as Sailor Moon's. But Akane paid no attention to any of that. She was looking at the face of someone she cared very deeply for. The face of someone that annoyed her to no end, but had saved her on more than one occasion.

"Ranma..." Akane muttered, disbelief in her eyes.

Nabiki only raised a brow before getting up to make some calls.

The footage continued with Ranma quickly dispatching the beast, before kneeling to Sailor Moon and saying something. She laughed and hugged him, (as a sibling would however, Akane noted) and then she backed off at the suggestion of one of the other scouts. Then, much to Akane's displeasure, she watched as Sailor Pluto latched onto Ranma's face like a plecostomus and proceeded to play a little tongue hockey with him. The remote in Akane's hand snapped in twine and her teeth grinded against one another. Nabiki had entered just in time to see the kiss, and made a U-turn, preparing to make a few more calls.

Unfortunately for our pig-tailed hero, the Tendo residence was not the only household (or building, say... a restaurant or two, for that matter) with a television.

"So Ranma... what do you look for in a girl?" Minako suddenly asked, the group once again sitting around the Hino living room.

"Eh!?" Ranma sputtered, coughing as the tea he drank went down the wrong tube.

"Yeah! What do you look for in a gal Ranma?" Makoto asked, obviously interested as well. Four of the inners and two of the outers stared intently at Ranma, waiting for his response. Ranma began to feel like he was cornered, and in fact he was. There was no way Ranma was getting out of this one.

"Uhm... shouldn't we be talking about... you know, senshi stuff?" Ranma asked meekly, attempting to derail the question.

No such luck. "But Ranma, this IS senshi business. You are a senshi, correct?" Ranma nodded, and knew that he had just been trapped. "Well, as fellow senshi, we need to know everything about you! I mean, the rest of us already know a lot about each other, so we need to learn about you!"

Nods were nearly unanimous around the table after Minako's reasoning, and Ranma began to get very nervous.

"But uh... do we have to start with this topic?" Ranma asked, almost fearing the answer.

Ranma swore that there was only one voice that had several layers to it, but it boomed "Yes!" And Ranma knew that he was unable to get out of it. Sighing heavily and looking around at the girls with more than a hint of hesitance in his eyes, he began.

"I suppose that I'd like a girl that is smart, and strong too. She'd haveta be a good cook... And I'd want her to accept me for who I am ya know? And not marry me just because of an agreement, but because she really loved me. I'd like a girl that's kind and cheerful as well..."

As Ranma continued, he failed to realize that his little speech mattered little in the long run, for each of the senshi interested seemed to believe that Ranma just happened to be describing them.

Haruka turned to Michiru, a slightly bemused smirk on her lips. "At least the guy brought some entertainment." Michiru covered her mouth and stifled back a giggle as Ranma wrapped up his speech, before immediately noticing that each girl that had been interested in his answer now had love struck looks in their glazed over eyes.

"Uh..." Ranma deadpanned, seeing that each of the girls didn't appear to get the message. "Look, I gotta get going... My mom is prolly worried about me anyway..." He said as he rose, but was interrupted by the always intelligent Ami.

"You're Mom would just think that you're at Usagi's house, wouldn't she?"

Ranma blinked and a look of realization crossed his face. "Oh! Well, normally yes, but she probably saw me at the mall on TV and-"

"She wouldn't recognize you then, you were in senshi form." Ami stated, causing Minako to nod rapidly and stare at Ranma.

Ranma sighed and shook his head. "I don't think you get it... I have no magic. I have no senshi form. People will recognize me, for I have no magic to shield my true form... Think about it, you all look quite similar to how you normally look when in senshi form, but no one recognizes you. Why? Magic... something I can't do. Sorry, but everyone who knew me and saw that broadcast is going to know... I am going to sort it out with my mom..."

The senshi were deathly silent, exchanging worried and unsure looks.

Haruka, once she put two and two together shut upright and quickly sprung to her feet. "Wait a minute! That means people will be pestering you to reveal our secret identities! You know who we are! We can't have this... anyone have a spare room with a lock on the outside? I say we lock him up and only release him when we need him-"

Haruka was interrupted mid-rant by Usagi, who appeared quite disappointed in the senshi of Uranus. "Haruka, please. I highly doubt that my brother would ever think to do such a thing. Right, Ranma?" Usagi asked, turning to him and raising a brow above her stern eyes.

Ranma smiled softly and shook his head. "I would never, hime-chan" (little princess)

"Grr.... Stop calling me that!" Usagi shouted, giving chase to Ranma who laughed and ran around the senshi, Usagi close behind.

A short chase ensued, Ranma only really half trying to evade Usagi, before actually letting her catch him and berate and curse him, attempting to harm the poor lad by beating on the armor on his chest from her position sitting on top of his lap.

"Ok ok, no more calling you hime-chan..." Ranma conceded, smiling up at Usagi, who returned his mirthful grin before getting off. Ranma rose to his feet effortlessly and dusted off his clothing before gazing around at the gathered senshi. "I really better go now though... wish me luck." He said, before concentrating briefly and allowing his armor to glow briefly sliding along his flesh like liquid and flowing into the bracers. "Ja!" Ranma said, winking to the group before walking down the hall.

Only to come back in and smile, rubbing the back of his head. "Uh, where's the exit?"

Once he had been showed to the proper exit, Ranma took to the roofs, bounding across three or four at a time, using his time in the air to get his bearings and head home. The golden crescent moon on his forehead with the blackened tips still remained, showing all his heritage and birthright, even if he didn't wish to reveal it.

People below had barely a chance to identify the black blur that shot across the rooftops, as just as they had seen it, it had already gone. As the stunned civilians passed beneath him, Ranma pondered just what he was going to say to his mother. 'Hi mom! You probably saw me on tv earlier, I just wanted to tell you not to worry, I'm just a reincarnated prince from an empire on the moon that existed several thousand years ago!' Ranma paused in his roof hopping and sighed. "This is going to be a bit harder than I first thought..."

He arrived at his home mere minutes later, gracefully flipping over the wall that bordered the rather large home within. Ranma gazed at the front door for several moments, taking several deep breaths as he did. This would be one of the more difficult talks in his life. He hesitated only a moment more, before lifting his arm and knocking upon th wooden door, still working the speech over in his mind. At first there was no sounds from within, and Ranma was about to knock again when he heard soft but hurried footsteps approach the door. The sliding of a latch was heard before the knob turned and the door swung inward, slowly revealing the auburn-haired woman in an exquisite kimono that had opened the door.

"Uh... hey mom." Ranma said weakly, the smile on his face matching his voice.

"Why Ranma!" Nodoka smiled happily with open arms. "Come in, you're just in time, someone is here to see you!"

Ranma blinked and looked up at his mother as he was ushered as the shouting started.within. "Eh?"

"Or should I say, several someones..." Nodoka muttered, a hint of malcontent in her voice.

Ranma was beginning to grow worried, and when he was pushed into the living, he knew his fears were well founded. Four women sat around a low table within, four very familiar women. Each was radiating an aura of mixed and confused emotions, but the one they all held in common was anger. As he entered, all eyes turned to him, and Ranma swallowed the lump in his throat, tensing up by reflex

"Ranma! What do you think you were doing with the senshi!?"

"Ran-chan! Was that you on the tv I saw kissing that old lady in the short skirt!?"

"Airen! What you doing with too too friendly old woman!?"

"Ranma-sama! Thank goodness, I thought that harridan had hypnotized or poisoned you!"

Before Ranma had even thought of responding, the girls had surrounded him, and were looking intently at the new tattoo on his forehead, and the change that had taken place in his eyes.

"I-it was you…" Ukyo stated, her eyes widening.

"Aiyah…" Shampoo muttered.

Now knowing that Ranma was indeed the fellow they had all witnessed on the television, they all seemed to reach the same conclusion at the very same time. Their reactions were, of course, polar opposites however.

"What was that wench thinking when she kissed MY Ranma-sama!"

"Too-too short skirt girl was awfully familiar with Airen!"

"Ran-chan! What do you think you were doing with that hussy!"

"Ranma no baka!"

Before any violent actions were taken however, Ranma spoke. "Please! Everyone just… calm down… I have some things to go over with all of you…"

Ukyo gave him a half lidded stare. "You're telling me."

Ranma shot Ukyo a less than warm smile and continued. "Look… if you all could just… take a seat at the table and I'll tell you everything… or at least, all that I can."

The fiancées looked at one another, as if searching for an explanation in each other's eyes. Of course, none was found so they all took a seat.

"Mom… you better sit down for this too." Ranma stated, his eyes expressing a deep sorrow that Nodoka could not understand. She nodded, her anger at the fiancées temporarily forgotten as she too took a seat at the low table, and let Ranma begin.

"I… I am a reincarnated being from the past… and… I am a Senshi…." Ranma stated, getting straight to the point.

The assembled fiancées and his mother glanced at each other and erupted in a fit of giggles, the very thought of their Ranma being one of the senshi simply absurd.

All found this amusing, except Ranma of course, who simply waited for them to get it out of their system. He expected there to be disbelief… after all, having a boy suddenly announce he is a senshi did seem absurd, even to him.

"Furthermore…" Ranma said as they quieted down. "I am engaged to one of the other senshi… Sailor Pluto… Hence the kiss."

The humor in the room was immediately sucked out, leaving 5 deathly silent women staring intently at Ranma, who began to fidget against their unrelenting gaze.

"What. Did. You. Say?" Akane asked, her hands tightening to the point where her knuckles were deathly white.

Ranma swallowed a lump in his throat and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah… funny story really…"

His mother simply continued to stare straight ahead, though the corner of her mouth twitched upward so often, forming a goofy smile on her lips, a small droplet of drool dribbled down her chin. Her fingers twitched spasmodically, a pair of victory fans could be seen sliding into view from within her kimono. Indeed, Nodoka was happy of the news.

"Before any of you jump to conclusions…" Ranma began, putting his hands in a gesture for them to calm down in front of him, "Let me explain… You see, I was not exactly… a welcome addition to the senshi in the past, the people feared me, feared that I may try to take over the queen and her loyal warriors. The Queen and most of the senshi knew otherwise… One senshi however, was quite adamant against me… she thought me to be nothing but a curse, a blemish upon the senshi's divine name. The Queen decided in a last ditch effort to try and warm the public, and the last senshi up to me, engaged me to her… Needless to say, the senshi as well as the public were outraged, her I was, in their eyes, a blasphemous creation of science…"

"Wait, back up Sugar… whaddya mean creation of science?" Ukyo asked, her brows furrowing in confusion. She knew that Ranma was born naturally… didn't she?

Ranma shook his head and sighed. "I was not… born in my past life… more like 'created…' Using the blood of the queen, and her most hated and powerful enemy, the fused the blood to create a senshi who would hopefully be able to annihilate the foe once and for all… I was not made to be popular… I was a weapon, and treated as such for the most part."

"What is it that made you so powerful?" Ukyo asked, deciding to play along for now, but still not completely believing of Ranma's story.

"I am… a void. Magic cannot exist near me or inside me... you see, the senshi operate and heavily rely on magic. I was feared because everyone knew; should I touch one of the senshi… their powers might disappear forever. It was never proven, and I dare not try to… but there is still a chance that I can make the senshi everyday girls with a simple touch… We later found that the theory was incorrect, but they will not be able to use magic while in contact with me."

"So they wanted you to touch the bad guys…" Akane said, the story was far-fetched, yet Ranma himself seemed so sure and she couldn't help but notice that the moon on his forehead was frighteningly similar to her idols.

"Actually… they wanted me to infiltrate her lair, and touch the source of her power, nullifying any power she might have been able to gather. Unfortunately… she struck first. That's not important right now however..." Ranma said, recalling back to where he had left off in his story. "As I was saying… I was engaged to her in an attempt to get her to like me… it never worked… I was constantly showered with insults and thought of in general as a complete abomination and that she would sooner kill me than touch me. The other senshi tried to warm her up to me, talking of how much they enjoyed my company and teachings. I was there teacher in close combat; just in case their powers would not work… she however would not accept my teachings, claiming that I was sabotaging the senshi with false arts that wouldn't work against youma. It seemed more and more likely that the engagement would end up with one of us dead, likely me since I had no desire to kill her…" Ranma made to continue, but was interrupted by Shampoo.

"You say she no like you, but we watch her kiss you on tv! Something no make sense here…" Her fractured Japanese made Ranma take a moment to arrange it so that he could better understand it, before answering.

"I admit… it was a surprise to me… you see, the last time I had seen her she had… said some words that I knew would permanently effect our relations… and then seeing her again, and having her kiss me… it was… completely unexpected… I still don't know what to do."

"Give me lots of grandchildren!" Nodoka cheered, finally letting the cheer and happiness let go and run free as she got her fans out and started dancing, laughing quite happily.

The fiancées and Ranma sighed in unison, expecting it at some point or another.

Turning back to the boy they had all been chasing for several years now, Ukyo asked: "So… what? We have more competition now?"

Ranma sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know…" he said honestly. "I just don't know."

"Shampoo not worried!" The curvaceous and bubbly amazon stated. She know how to take care of too-too short skirt girl!" Grabbing her bonbori from beside her she stood up, her eyes gleaming with the intent to kill the obstacle.

Ranma closed his eyes and put a hand out in front of her, as if to stop her. "Please… can't any of you try to solve this without violence for once?"

Silence met his question, causing Ranma open his eyes and blink. The rest of the fiancées simply staring at his hand. Ranma knew that this wasn't good, and followed his arm over to Shampoo, where his hand rested precariously on her breast. Shampoo seemed to be excited and angered, happy that her husband had finally showed his affection, but angry because she was supposed to be the one in charge.

"Ran-chan…." Ukyo growled, pulling the enormous spatula off of her back and hefting it above her head. "You can move your hand now!"

Ranma's hand seemed to vanish and appear back at his side, a silly grin on his face as he rubbed the back of his head. "Eh… hehehe…"

"Ranma… no… BAKA!" Akane shouted, pulling out her customary mallet and bringing it down upon Ranma's head with tremendous force, knocking him unconscious and allowing him to slump to the floor.

Akane nodded, proud of her handiwork, and turned to see the three other fiancées looking none too happy at the development.

"If anyone's gonna punish Ran-chan… it's gonna be me."

"Too-too violent girl need lesson in manners!"

"You psychotic harridan! You shall pay for what you have done to Ranma-sama!"

Akane just stared, immediately realizing her mistake and turning and running while she could.

"Not so fast!" Ukyo shouted, pulling out some spatulas and tossing them like daggers at the fleeing girl.

Unfortunately, Kodachi's ribbon seemed to be seeking the same target. The result was the small spatula's being knocked just enough to barely miss Akane, and Kodachi's ribbon had ripped in several places.

"Y-you wench!" Kodachi shouted, clearly quite angry.

Ukyo on the other hand, was just as angry. "Prepare to get a beating of a lifetime you rich bitch…" She got her enormous spatula once more and heaved it over her head, only to hear a loud 'Clang!'

Ukyo blinked and looked over her shoulder along with Kodachi, to see a dazed Shampoo sitting on the floor rubbing her head.

"Stupid spatula girl…" Shampoo growled, snatching up her bonbori and rising to join in the mayhem that was about to ensue.

Nodoka was broken from her manly-son induced stupor when a loud tearing noise was picked up from her eardrums. She turned to watch in stupefied horror as a steel bonbori tore through one of the rice paper walls and then crashed into a wooden beam, splitting it in two.

"No! Stop it! I will not let this happen again!" Nodoka shouted, but her cries fell upon deaf ears, and the women continued their quarrel, tearing through everything in their path, whether it be wall or door, the fiancées seemed to not be aware of the path of destruction and chaos they left behind them.

Akane watched from outside, wondering why the girls had not pursued her. The house suddenly lurched and Akane gasped, her fears switching from her own well-being to the current inhabitants of the building.

Ranma groaned and rubbed his head as he slowly rose on all fours. "Damn it! This is the last time… I swear… no longer will take this abu-" Ranma froze when he heard the loud creaking of wood being strained. He looked up and froze at the utter carnage around and how many of the support beams were damaged in some way or another. He quickly got up and looked around, almost immediately spotting his mother. "Mom!"

Nodoka turned about and saw her son standing, and relief washed over her. "Oh Ranma, please, you must stop them, their tearing the house apart, I…"

A loud creak, one that sounded dangerously close to breaking suddenly sounded from behind Nodoka, and a snap was heard.

"Mom!" Ranma shouted, setting off toward her as he watched the ceiling above her give in, and the massive wooden support beam splintered in two, collapsing and falling directly onto Nodoka skull.

A crack was heard, and it was all Ranma needed. He dashed forward at inhuman speeds, grabbing the woman who had given him life before she fully fell to the ground and kicking the beam out of the way.

A low growl emanated from his throat and his eyes sparked with electricity, and he set to work escaping from the collapsing home, breaking through several barriers in the process before exploding out the building and out onto the street. He glared at Akane, his eyes still allowing strands of coruscating electricity to escape from them, and leaving Akane to gaze at him in wonder. As he set his mother down and turned back to the home, which was already collapsing in on itself. His head turned to the skies, and Akane blinked and raised her gaze too to the sky, and gasped as the once beautiful skies clouded with dark and stormy clouds that denied any compassion for those beneath them. They quickly swirled and Akane realized that they were becoming a funnel cloud, directly over the Saotome household.

Akane looked at Ranma, who was now gazing at the house with his arms crossed over his chest. The breath escaped her as she realized that it was Ranma who controlled the storm, and the tornado that was rapidly descending to the house and lifting the fragile rice paper up into the sky. Several loud cries were heard from within, and soon the quarreling women dashed out the door of the home, and met a site that shocked them.

Ranma stood there, his eyes completely white with arcs of lightning crackling from his eyes, appearing seemingly at random and shifting before collapsing back into his eyes, only to allow another strand to appear. His arms were crossed across his chest, which was garbed in a black silk shirt, and the same black silk seemed uniform across his body, sans his bracers.

"The engagements…" Ranma growled, his teeth grinding together in anger. "Are off!"

Ooh! Didn't see that coming did ya! What has happened to Ranma's mother? Well… Sore wa… himitsu desu!

(at Slayers headquarters: Another loser fanfic author used our term! Bust out the attorneys!)

comes back, quite a bit poorer Anyway… Sorry it took so long, I plan on now returning to fanfic writing… yes, I know, amazing… Chaos and Carnage will be next, but I promise work on this one too! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my first and favorite fanfic! (maybe not favorite… but still my first)

I never received the fanart I was promised… twas sad indeed… maybe this update will help! Hehehe…

Next time on Ranma Oh! King of Games! And Storms!

The fiancées brood over Ranma's decision! And wait, he didn't specify which fiancées… meaning… Setsuna and Ranma aren't engaged anymore!? And what happened to poor Nodoka, will she live?

And… what happened to Ryouga… why are his eyes like that…

And Ranma has his most difficult duel yet! Maximillian Pegasus sure knows how to play his cards!

Once again, read and review… any questions and comments, suggestions, or anything else you might think to send me can be sent to or 

Till next time everyone

-Gundraw


	10. Chapter 10

"So can we trust him?"

It was obviously the first thing that came to mind, the senshi had remained at Rei's temple while Ranma had left, and remained rather quiet since. Haruka had spoken the thing that was on most of their minds, in truth none truly knew whether or not they could trust this boy, the one who knew him best was Usagi, and even then she only really knew him from her past life.

"I don't think Ranma's the type to go out blabbing about our identities Haruka, he seemed genuine to me." Makoto said, to which several of the senshi agreed, mainly Usagi and Setsuna.

"I'm not so much worried about that as I am whether he turns on us, I mean, none of our attacks would work against him, and you saw what he can do in from that fight in the mall, do guys really think we could take him on?"

"You saw when he swore loyalty to Usagi! I mean, he got on his knees and everything!" Minako reminded them of the scene they had witnessed not hours earlier when Ranma had defeated the scorpion-like youma.

"Doesn't necessarily mean he won't turn on us…" Michiru interjected.

"My little brother is as likely to turn on us as I am" Usagi spoke up for the first time since Ranma had left. She seemed to be lost in her own thoughts and the scouts thought it best to leave their princess to ponder upon the things that had been going on recently.

"But-" Haruka tried to protest, but was promptly cut off by Rei.

"I don't think he's likely to turn on us Haruka, I mean, even Setsuna trusts him!"

"She is a bit biased." Haruka quickly responded.

Setsuna ignored the jibe at the moment and chose that moment to speak up. "While I cannot use the time gates to survey him due to his immunity to magic, Crystal Tokyo is still intact and all paths lead to its creation."

"You cannot even use the time gates to watch him?" Haruka nearly shouted, now even less sure of this new boy.

"That is enough Uranus!" Usagi commanded. The senshi quieted down in an instant, their princess rarely spoke so seriously, and knew to listen when she did. "My brother received enough prejudice in his last life, I will not tolerate any more in this one!" Haruka looked to protest but Usagi cut her off, not quite done. "As far as I am concerned this topic is now finished, my brother's loyalty is not to be questioned by anyone any further, do I make myself clear?"

Haruka reluctantly nodded, though she still didn't like the whole fiasco.

An uneasy silence settled into the room as the topic died, the scouts unsure of what to discuss next.

"Do you think that his mother will believe him? About him being a scout I mean." Ami asked, deciding to start the new topic.

Rei pondered that for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't know, I mean, everyone knows that we're supposed to be an all girl team, I'm not sure if his mother would or not."

Hotaru nodded. "Ranma-niichan seemed to be a pretty honest guy, I mean he did share his life story with us remember?" Most of the scouts nodded in agreement, the story was simply too detailed and crazy to simply have been made up. "But that doesn't mean people will believe him…"

The title –niichan wasn't lost on several of the scouts.

"Perhaps then we should pay a visit to her to let her know that this isn't some ruse and Ranma really is the reincarnation of a long dead prince?" Usagi asked. The scouts looked to each other and, one by one, slowly agreed to the idea, Michiru and Haruka the final ones to do so.

"Very well, let us…" Usagi began, but a sudden crack of thunder resounded outside and the scouts glanced to one another and rushed outside to see if that was what they thought it was. The once sunny weather had again changed, this time a dark, foreboding cloud cover blanketed them and looked most ominous indeed, as if some sort of dark omen that did not bode will for anyone.

"Do you think it's… him?" Makoto asked, the fear in her voice barely restrained.

"Who else do we know that could make a storm in clear weather?" Rei retorted. Despite the tough façade she put on however, it was easily noticed that her voice held a certain ounce of fear to it as well.

"What do you think made him like this…?" Makato asked again, this time worried more for what could have caused this.

"I don't know… but it does not bode well…" Usagi said, reverting to her princess state once more. The scouts noted that with Ranma's appearance it was happening more often, but filed it away to ask about later when they didn't have anything to worry about. "Come on, let's check it out." She commanded.

The scouts all nodded, and after they had all transformed to be safe, they sped off in the direction of the storm, being wary of the crackling electricity in the air.

-------------

The shades were, by all means, a genius creation.

Using technology that mankind couldn't help but dream of, these creatures were combination of organic and technological elements, literally a living machine designed for one purpose. Possession. They were originally designed to take control of high ranking officers or soldiers in the enemy's forces and then infiltrate the superiors headquarters before assassinating them quite efficiently. To be sure this was done; each shade was designed to use one combat style, which they mastered to a point of perfection. This combined with their hosts usually already impressive combat skills ended up with a killing machine few could compare with. As the shades themselves cared not for their captor's life, they often would fight without any sort of worry about self preservation or sense of fear. They were ruthless, and untiring.

The shades themselves were incorporeal, more like a wraith or ghost than an actual being. Little could harm them, their master made sure to bless them with varying invulnerabilities to most energy type attacks, which were usually the only things that could hurt them. Their lack of physical form only made it easier for the shades to possess their chosen target, no sort of wall being able to contain them.

But they also had conscious thought. They could think, feel and decide for themselves on the best course of action in situations. They were completely subservient of course, their creator made sure to put various programs of control in their system, it would not do to have a weapon rebel after all.

However, perhaps their most frightening ability was their intelligence. Their ability to adapt to any situation. They could assess the weaknesses or flaws of any opponent and turn it into a devastating advantage. They could quickly analyze how attacks worked and ensure the ability to protect from it the next time it was used. But most worrisome of all was that they were all connected to one another, they could literally live vicariously through one another, experiencing ones battles and memories as if it were it's own, and anything learned from one was passed on to the others instantly.

All this and they were still only in an experimental stage, no doubt the final product would be much, much more powerful, and it was a truly frightening prospect.

The slightly pudgy man entered the lab, his eyes flicking quickly side to side and a light sheen of sweat on his forehead. His brown hair was combed do the side neatly, and he wore a pair of thick glasses on his rounded face. His eyes were nothing exceptional, a simple brown color he shared in common with the majority of the population of earth, though he had not been there himself. He wore a long white lab-coat, though knew little science himself. He simply wore it because it was worn by a majority of the "employees" of this complex, and he felt out of place if he himself did not wear one too.

The room was simply furnished, white marble floor and a somewhat tall ceiling with bright lights that shone with a pure quality. The bars of light that made the room visible floated some inches below the ceiling, which was one large mirror, reflecting everything in the room quite clearly. The most prominent feature of the room however were the four tubes lined up on the wall opposite the door. They were clearly nothing that any scientist on earth had built; the technology displayed being far beyond that of anything on earth, or most the universe for that matter. They hummed with an unnatural presence, a very alien and discomforting hum that got a hold of your gut and just wouldn't let go. The tubes themselves were filled with a green liquid, and though invisible to the eye, countless nano-machines that built the shades. They constructed these creatures molecule by molecule, ensuring its perfection beyond anything a clumsy organic being could produce.

The shades themselves floated in the tubes, the ultimate creation of the sciences that their master had at his command. Their bodies would be a pure midnight black if it wasn't for the fact that they were quite visibly transparent. You could quite easily see the green liquid through their bodies, and if you only glanced at them, it would seem that they weren't there at all. This too was another amazing feature of the shades, their near invisibility to any physical conception. Though it was easier due to the bright light they were being exposed to, in a shadow they would be unable to be seen at all. Their heads, if you could call them such were simply a ball, a featureless sphere that bore no markings, oddities or signs at all. They had arms that extended as far as a humans would, just below the waist of the thing. Below the waist of the creature however, no sort of legs were present. Their body ended in a ripped like tail that drifted effortlessly beneath them, only further confirming their inhumanity. They needed not legs for transport, they were fitted with tiny ant-gravity producing fields in each molecule of their being, allowing them to drift noiselessly around with the greatest of ease. It was expensive to have one of these chips in every molecule, as only a few were needed to really generate the field they needed, however they were provided with them so that in case they did lose some of their being, they would not be crippled to the point of being immobile. They weren't designed to cause fear, or to look impressive. Such things were pointless to their creator; they were merely tools to be used and nothing more.

The tubes each held one such being, several feet in front of them a simple console stood, naught a foot square. It was tilted towards the door so that the operator could see it clearly, and stood about four feet in height. On it, a bright screen detailed various facts about the beings before it, from their height, to purpose to percent of completion. They were all of course complete, however none were the final version of the product, so it could be considered that these were "beta" shades, though just fine for what they would be used for.

Gurney approached the console and pressed one of the few buttons on the side of the screen, and on the pillar that held the console up a seam opened up and a small tray evacuated, and it was easily recognizable as a disc tray, though one a fraction of the size of the ones used on earth. He reached into his coat pocket and retrieved a thin case, carefully popping it open and removing the tiny disc and placing it onto the tray, which seemed to realize it had the disc placed upon it and retracted once more, the tray itself melding back into the pillar and becoming invisible once more. The screen instantly flashed and information started whizzing past, nearly too fast to read. The mission parameters were being read from the disc and prepared to be ingrained in the shades memory, and one final confirmation was required. Gurney pressed a second button on the console and instantly the information was sent to the shades, the various requirements and objectives instantly imprinting itself in each of their minds. The nanobots quickly retracted from the shades, the final tweaking for each shade completed in scant seconds. They all raised their heads, if they could be called such at once. The console spoke then, an inhuman and altogether ethereal voice that unsettled Gurney to no end. "Parameters accepted, shade mission beginning."

The shades each phased easily through the tubes and took a moment to examine their surroundings before their mission came to mind once more, and immediately scattered, slipping through the walls in search of a proper target to possess to fulfill their masters wishes. Gurney sighed and shook his head, already he couldn't believe that such beings had been created. He dismissed the thought and exited the chamber to the hallway, quickly finding his way through the winding corridors, ignoring all around him as he thought back to the few pieces of the mission he had seen. Apparently his master had decided to play on the King of Storms weaknesses immediately. Not admirable by any means, but undoubtedly effective. He silently thanked his luck in not making an enemy of his master as he approached a pair of large doors. It took a moment as the computer contained within identified the person who approached, before drifting open completely silently, something that still irked him. He entered the room and approached the chair where his master sat, still gazing upon the footage he had seen earlier of the awakening of the King of Storms.

"The shades have been sent out my master." Gurney stated, his voice wavering slightly at the mere presence of this individual.

The person remained facing away from Gurney, watching the pupil-less eyes of Ranma as he launched the sphere of lightning at the youma, destroying it instantly. A grin erupted on his face suddenly, his canines gleaming ferociously in the dim light.

"Excellent…"

---------

The scouts leapt from rooftop to rooftop as quickly as they could, glancing upward at the rumbling clouds every so often to ensure that they were on the right path towards their only male member. A small funnel cloud had formed, looking to be the beginning of a tornado and the scouts knew that nothing good would come of this.

They quickly made it to their destination, Ranma's mother's house only being some distance off from Rei's temple and each had their own reaction to the carnage that was going on. The house that they assumed to be Ranma's was in ruins, nothing more than a pile of rubble where a proud and noble house had once stood. They immediately recognized Ranma in the middle of the street carrying an older woman who had a formal kimono on, and her warm brown hair was done up in a bun on the top of her head. Blood was leaking from a large head wound she had received and it was then that the scouts truly realized how drastic the situation was. One of Ranma's arms was holding on tightly to his mother, cradling her to his chest, while the other was held as tightly as it could against her head, trying it's best to stop the torrent of blood that was leaking from the possibly fatal wound.

Before any could act however, Ranma's voice lashed out at four young women who stood before him, all with various looks of concern and horror on their face. His voice was anything but kind, dripping with something none of the scouts had heard before, and in fact none of the other women had either. Pure hatred. He honestly and whole heartedly spoke with such hate that it made them flinch as he shouted at them, his eyes slipping back into their natural pupil-less state and began to glow with an ethereal energy. Tendrils of pure energy expanded from his eyes and floated about, searching for some unkown object, reaching and grasping randomly. A corona of the same color energy exploded from his being, the concrete beneath his feet cracking sporadically in a spider-web like form, his place being the center of this web.

"The engagements…" He snarled, bearing his teeth at the girls. "ARE OFF!"

They all visibly flinched, and with good reason. Ranma's voice echoed quite clearly despite the urban setting, and for moments afterward, not a single sound could be heard. The normally noisy cicada's stayed silent for some time, as if respecting this time as Ranma's turn to speak. The various honks and squeals of cars paused, and it almost seemed as time itself came to a standstill.

"Ranchan…" Ukyo began, her voice clearly hurt. "You can't mean-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Ranma shouted, silencing her with a glare. "None of you have any right to even talk to me anymore. I'm not putting up with this shit anymore, all of you get the hell out of my sight before I make you!"

"Ranma…" Akane muttered, her eyes filled with fear, not for her fiancée, but of him.

"I told you to shut up! The engagements are off, all of them! And Shampoo so help me if you come near me one more time I'll destroy you're whole damn village, starting with you!" Ranma roared, tears welling in his eyes as he felt the warm liquid his hand was covered with, reminded again of his mother's condition. "I don't have time for this shit…" Ranma angrily growled, gritting his teeth before taking off, pulling his unconscious mother to his body and darting away in the direction of the closest hospital.

"R-ranchan…" Ukyo muttered, her own eyes welling with tears. "He-he couldn't mean what he said did he?"

"I would suggest you heed his words." A voice from a nearby rooftop gained their attention and the four women competing for the attentions of one pig-tailed martial artist gazed up and each gasped as they gazed upon the forms of the Sailor Senshi themselves, a rather disgusted look inhabiting their gaze. Each seemed to be furious about something, even the normally calm Ami had a scowl on her features. Ranma had told them of his fiancées, but most thought he was exaggerating, it was quite obvious that they were wrong.

"T-that's Sailor Moon… and the Senshi!" Akane gasped out, her eyes wide in awe. Was Ranma really speaking the truth…?

"Aiyah…" Shampoo squeaked out, even she had learned of the pretty suited sailors of love and justice, quite glad that there was a symbol (or symbols in this case) of feminine power, even in Japan.

"You all should be ashamed!" Sailor Moon spat out, absolutely furious with the four. "Being engaged is something to be held in highest respects! Not stepped on and abused! You have revoked every right you once had to court my brother!"

"B-brother?" Kodachi gasped out.

Sailor Moon nodded, the frown never leaving her lips. "My brother is now under the protection of the Senshi, if any of you try to come even close to you… we'll be there to make sure you learn to stay away from him!"

Haruka, though still wary of the boy couldn't help but nod. Though she hadn't really had good experiences with men, she knew that Ranma was not the aggressor here, and agreed whole heartedly with Usagi.

They watched for a moment longer to make sure that they had made their point clear before chasing after Ranma, leaping over the former fiancées of one Ranma Saotome and gave pursuit.

Akane slumped to her knees as tears welled in her eyes. In the past hour she had taken part of perhaps fatally wounding Ranma's mother, having Ranma break off the engagement, and even made an enemy of the Sailor Scouts. "W-what have I done…?"

"We done sugar…" Ukyo added, knowing that Akane was not the only one to blame here.

---------------------

"Setsuna… does that mean that your engagement is off too?" Hotaru asked as they dashed along, knowing that the nearest hospital was still a block or so away.

Setsuna suddenly paused as the scouts continued, her eyes widening and revealing their ruby red color in more clarity. His words shot through her mind like a bullet, the rage with which he had stated making her shiver. Surely he didn't mean theirs as well… did he? Setsuna thought back to the Silver Millennium, to how she had treated the boy and winced, knowing that she was most certainly in the wrong about him. She had to know. She needed to know.

"Pluto, are you alright?" Rei called from a rooftop across the street.

Setsuna shook the thoughts from here head and nodded, quickly rejoining her fellow senshi, her resolve only reinforced as they headed towards the hospital. Did Ranma really break their engagement off…?

----------------

Ranma burst into the hospital doors, uncaring of the eyes that were drawn to his person immediately after. "Someone please… help me!" He shouted, looking to and fro for any sign of a doctor. A passing nurse saw the boy and the condition of the woman he was carrying and immediately came up to him, asking various questions like what had happened and how long had she had the wound.

He answered as best he could, his voice wavering as she led him through a pair of double doors. Behind him several murmurs went throughout the crowd, wondering about this new person and the weird garb he wore. Several of them had seen the broadcast that had aired just earlier and became giddy with excitement that the new senshi was here.

"We'll take it from here sir, if you'd please go back into the waiting room…" The nurse said once Ranma transferred the limp body of his mother to the bed that was present.

"I'm not leaving, this is my mother!" Ranma cried, tears now freely spilling from his pure blue eyes. Another nurse entered and grabbed his arm, pulling him out. "No, no, no!" Ranma shouted, watching as his mother grew more distant.

"Please sir, we'll be able to perform better if you aren't present." The nurse who was pulling him asked, knowing that if he so wished he wouldn't be moved by her or most any of the staff.

Ranma gave one last longing look to his mother, his heart pounding deep within his ribcage before turning slowly and exiting back through the double doors and into the lobby, into the awaiting forms of the Sailor Senshi.

"Ranma! Are you alright?" Minako asked concernedly, to which he nodded briefly.

"Yes, but my mom…" He let the sentence hang forebodingly.

"Oh god… Ranma, I'm so sorry…" Makoto said. She had lost her mother at a young age, and knew the pain it could cause to lose one's parents.

Ranma shook his head, the sadness leaving his face in exchange for a mask of rage. "If… If only I had told those goddamn bitches before it happened…" His fist shot to the side and impacted heavily into the wall, causing it to buckle and cave in itself, compressing into the form of a small crater. "Then maybe my mom would still be ok…"

Setsuna wanted to ask, but she knew that now was not the time, especially when Ranma was in this mindset. She opted instead to guide him over to one of the chairs in the waiting area, and the crowd dispersed to give them some room as Ranma took a seat, tears dribbling down his cheeks.

"I… I could have saved her… but instead I just sat there and watched… watched as that beam crushed her head… oh god what have I done…" Ranma wept openly for the first time in his life. The guilt bringing him down into a deep depression. The senshi did their best to comfort the distraught young man, but all was for not, his mood didn't change for the duration of their stay in the hospital.

The senshi had been pestered several times for autographs and such but it soon became apparent that they were in no mood to please fans. Some time later, after people had filtered in and out and the waiting room had begun to die down from the excitement, a nurse stepped out into the area, looking and quickly spotting the weeping Ranma. It was hard not to notice the guy wearing a full suit of armor, a long black cape and surrounded by the Sailor Senshi. "Excuse me, sir?" She interrupted, and Ranma's red eyes rose to look at the nurse, ever hopeful. She smiled weakly. "Sir, we have stabilized your mother's condition, she's no longer bleeding and we've managed to remove some of the bone fragments caught in her brain... We could find no trace of brain damage, something that we had been expecting, but we won't know the extent of the damage until she awakes."

Ranma let out a long sigh, a slow smile of gratitude filling his face. "When can I see her?" Ranma asked. The senshi around him too let out sighs of relief, giving Ranma quick hugs and pats on the back in encouragement.

The nurse shook her head. "I'm afraid there's more sir. Your mother has fallen into a coma, and as far as the doctors can see, we don't know if she'll ever wake up… I'm sorry. You can visit her now, but please be aware she is still recovering."

Any happiness or relief Ranma had been feeling was leeched away by her words. It felt to him as his very soul had been sapped from his body, stolen away by some undeserving phantom.

"No… no! You gotta be able to do something!" Ranma shouted, rising above the nurse and she watched fearfully as his eyes filled with anger again.

She was shaking visibly, but managed to shake her head in a negative. "I'm sorry sir… the doctors did all they could…"

"Then make them do more! Make them go back and-"Ranma was cut off by Usagi's hand resting on his shoulder, and when he turned to look at her she shook her head gently. He calmed visibly, his shoulder's slumping and his entire body seeming to sag with an unknown weight. "It's… It's not fair!"

"I know little brother…" Usagi spoke, her voice soft and comforting. She turned to the nurse. "Where is she?"

After being guided to the room by the shaken up nurse the senshi filtered into the room, looking at the woman lying on the bed. An IV was inserted into the back of her hand, and the steady dripping of the bag above her fed her body medicine to speed up the recovery process. A screen sat at the side of the bed, giving a weak beep when the bar rose and fell, showing the older woman's heartbeat. Her once beautiful auburn hair was gone, hidden beneath various bandages that were wrapped around her skull. Her kimono was gone, hung up in the closet, and instead she wore a typical hospital gown, looking overly clean and sanitized, and only making Ranma feel even sicker.

He grabbed one of the two chairs in the room and pulled them to the side of the bed, grabbing the hand that did not have the IV in it and held it to his face, giving it a gentle kiss before bringing it to his forehead as he lowered his gaze to the floor, tears once more filling his eyes up. "Is there anything you can do sister?" Ranma's voice barely escaped his lips, a tortured and broken sound. The once happy and carefree voice was replaced by a bastardized version of it, one that did not sound like his at all.

Usagi gazed at the woman on the bed and frowned, shaking her head despite the fact that he couldn't see her. "I'm not sure…"

He rose his head to look at her, two tear stained cheeks shining in the bright light above them and the eyes of his spoke of a deep sadness. "Please… you gotta try… I only just got to know her; I don't want to lose her again…" For the first time in his life, Ranma begged.

The reincarnated princess of the moon looked into those eyes, once so proud and strong, now broken and despairing. She nodded, still unsure of what the crystal might do but despite it, did as her brother asked.

"Moon healing escalation!" Sailor moon called, invoking the power of the crystal and casting the spell over the comatose woman. She shone brightly, nearly too bright to be looked at before the light faded, and no change in her condition was apparent.

"Again." Ranma stated. A fierce determination in his voice. "Do it again."

Sailor Moon looked to Ranma and nodded softly, letting her powers gather once more and sending the spell into his mother's body once more. The shine was the same, the same silvery like color that just seemed to be pure light, pure good, in it's most unadulterated form.

Again however, despite the power that Sailor Moon held, no change occurred.

"Again!" Ranma barked, his voice wavering.

"Ranma…" Setsuna approached him from behind and let a hand come to rest on his shoulder. "It's not working… there's nothing we can do."

Ranma slapped the hand away from his shoulder and shook his head. "I refuse to believe that! There's gotta be something we can do… something I can do…" He looked up to Usagi for support, but to his dismay she was looking away, a rather downcast look in her eyes. "B-but there must be…" Ranma stuttered out. "Saturn, use your healing powers!" Ranma commanded, but Hotaru shook her head.

"That should have healed her more than I could… I'm sorry Ranma…" She let out, genuinely feeling terrible that there was nothing that she could do.

Ranma turned back to his fallen mother and collapsed into tears once more, fearing for his mother's life. The many unshed tears of his life seemed to spill out at once, flowing from his eyes and down onto the sheets that covered his fallen matriarch. The senshi as one silently agreed that it be best to leave Ranma be and filtered out of the room, each saying their goodbyes to Ranma, though he didn't appear to notice. Usagi was the last to leave, giving her brother one last glance before shaking her head and exiting.

Once outside of the room the senshi remained rather solemn, each unsure of what to say. There was no disaster to take care of, and nothing they could do to further help their male comrade. They were, by all intents and purposes, unsure of what to do from this point.

"Perhaps we should just wait until tomorrow…" Rei began. "Let Ranma sort this out before we figure out what to do?" She glanced about and saw most of the senshi nodding in agreement.

"Let me go tell him then…" Setsuna said, reentering the room for a brief moment before coming back outside. "He said he'd stay here overnight to watch over her, just in case she would wake up…" Setsuna stated. Though it was unsaid, most senshi doubted if she would awake, if the silver imperium crystal couldn't awake her, it seemed rather hopeless indeed.

"Fine. We'll meet here tomorrow at noon to check on Ranma." Usagi said. The senshi all nodded in agreement and after taking one last glance at the door that held Ranma and his sleeping mother, they all left the building and headed towards their various homes, their hearts heavy with guilt and grief.

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"Ranma…?" The voice pierced through his head, waking him from his slumber. He could feel a rather crusty growth on both of his eyes and his cheeks were still slightly damp. "Ranma, come on get up."

He let his eyes slide open, and his pupils protested harshly to the bright light flooding his eyes. Beneath him he felt soft cloth, and his hand was holding of something smooth and soft. Flesh he realized. He couldn't see due to the harsh light, but he kept his eyes open, knowing that they would adjust faster if he did so.

"Come on sleepy, wake up." The gentle voice said, and he reveled in it's kindness for a moment before yesterday's events flooded through his mind. His eyes shot open from their previous droopy state, a smile immediately forming on his tear stained face as he turned to the bed.

"Mom?"

She lay there, still as a stone. Her eyes remained closed, and the machine next to her beeped periodically, indicating that her heart was indeed beating. The occasional drip of the IV as the liquid medicine was fed into her veins, giving her body the sustenance it so needed in the current state.

"I'm sorry Ranma… she's still out."

Ranma turned to the voice and saw Usagi in her civilian form looking down upon him, her eyes heavy with sadness. She too looked a little unkempt. Her eyes were slightly red, not to the extent Ranma's were, but noticeably so regardless. Ranma came to the conclusion that she must have wept some tears in sympathy the night before. He nodded slowly, still coming to terms with the situation. He knew sitting by her side and weeping would solve nothing, but in all honesty he had no other ideas on what to do. Sailor Moon couldn't heal her, and he had no means of doing so either, and it left him in a rather helpless situation. And he never enjoyed being in a helpless situation.

The pig-tailed youth sat up, wincing as his back exclaimed in protest, long since having grown used to the position. It wasn't a healthy position by any means, and he'd no doubt regret it later today, but for the current situation he deemed it worth it. He stretched his arms out around him and let out a groan in relief as several tight muscles loosened up slightly. Taking a sniff he coughed and frowned. He would need to take a shower to be sure.

Usagi giggled despite herself and held her hand out. "Come on, we're all going to Rei's to… talk about it."

Ranma didn't need a further explanation on what "it" was. He nodded and accepted his sister's hand. Though not related by blood, in their past life the princess had been the most accepting of him, giving him so much unconditional love and care that they soon grew to be like siblings. He was in a sense her half brother, the blood in his veins partially coming from her mother after all, but then he wasn't really born either. It all came down to how one defined a "brother." He didn't really need her hand to help him up but the gesture was more than enough to comfort Ranma. He had friends now, ones that genuinely felt for him and cared for him. After traveling on the road for so long, the reincarnated prince knew that he would not take them for granted or abuse their trust in him. His thoughts turned to his ex-fiancées and his façade soon turned sour. He would need to do something about them today, he was sure of that.

Giving one last longing look at his mother he bent down and gave her a kiss on her forehead, savoring every moment his lips touched her skin. He had never done something like this before, and it was a truly gratifying experience, even if she couldn't return his affections. Turning back to Usagi, Ranma nodded and his unspoken command was understood. They exited the room and the hospital altogether, ignoring the various stares Ranma was receiving, who was still in his full battle uniform.

The white opalescent armor gleamed with rainbow quality sheen as the bright hospital lights saturated the ornate protection gear. The dragon that twisted up around his waist and up around his left shoulder was easily visible among the white armor surrounding it, glinting quite regally in the lights and making the figure all the more imposing. .A loose black sash hung around his waist, not really supporting any sort of clothing, but serving as an anchor to which he attached the holster for his flute, one of the few possessions he truly did covet. The bracers on his wrist stuck out as well, the armor was sleeveless, and so the only thing that drew ones eyes away from the muscles on his arms were the bracers. They were crafter beyond what most master smiths or jewel crafters could dream to achieve. The metals and stones that it comprised of flowing seamlessly into each other, despite their rather different traits. They were smooth, nearly flawlessly so, looking like a frictionless liquid around his wrists. One of the most imposing things of the figure altogether though was the cape that fluttered behind him. Although in tatters, the raven black cape was both long and royal in appearance. It too was smooth to the touch, seemed to be made of some sort of silk like material that couldn't be named. It fluttered freely behind him even if there was no breeze to make it do such, as if it had a will of it's own to reach out behind him and drift like water. The only thing that made it remain in place it seemed was where it was attached to his armor on the back of his neck.

Whispers surrounded them as they exited, wondering who this strange new boy was and why exactly he was escorting a schoolgirl around. Some felt jealousy rise up within, but most were merely curious, this new senshi that the news had been having a field day with was before them and in a hospital no less, and why did he remain in that form? His forehead was branded with the mark of the moon kingdom as well, something that easily made him recognizable by a majority of Juuban's populace and the neighboring districts, such as Nerima.

Once they had exited and were out of the scrutinizing looks of the people Ranma regained his bearings, marking his location and where the temple that the senshi met at was. He smirked as an idea came to him and approached Usagi from the rear before scooping her into his arms and darted up to the nearest rooftop, swiftly and expertly navigating the various rooftops of the district in the direction of the Hino temple.

Usagi let out a shrill shriek as she was suddenly weightless, lifted up and away at a high speed that she generally didn't experience unless she was in her senshi form. She relaxed, only slightly, when she felt her brother's arms hooked under her knees and supporting her back. She started screaming anew, but there was now laughter mixed in, like a little girl riding a roller coaster.

The laughter made the former prince smile. He knew that worrying about his mother wouldn't help anything at all, and in fact he was still rather depressed, but he still had family, even if they were from a past life, and so he decided that he shouldn't bring her down with him, or any of the senshi for that matter. The youth looked toward the girl in his arms with a warm smile as he remembered again that he would not be alone in this, all of the senshi, except perhaps Uranus and Neptune were now rather close to him. He still didn't know any of them too well, but as of late they had been more of a friend than Ranma had ever had in his time in Nerima. Heck, even if Uranus and Neptune were still a bit wary of him they had treated him better than most in Nerima. No, he knew that his friendship with the senshi was not to be taken lightly.

They arrived at the Hino shrine in record time, Ranma's experience with navigating from the roofs of buildings easily outmatching the senshi's own.

Usagi was let down lightly and playfully smacked Ranma's chest. "Tell me the next time you're going to do that!"

"Why would I do that?" Ranma asked, smiling mischievously.

Despite herself, Usagi couldn't help but smile as she tried to act angry, turning away and huffing. Ranma shook his head, a smile still present on his lips.

"What are you guys doin here? The meeting isn't for another half hour!" Rei's voice suddenly intruded in their little game, startling Usagi.

Ranma turned and shrugged. "Took us a bit quicker than expected to get here."

Usagi smacked the back of Ranma's head, which had no real affect, but appeared quite humorous regardless. "'Cause someone here had to take us all over Juuban's rooftops!"

A soft smile graced Rei's lips. She had felt really bad for Ranma, as had the rest of the senshi, and was expecting him to be rather morose for the meeting, if he showed up at all. A sudden stink filled her nostrils and she coughed and waved a hand in front of her nose. "Ugh! What is that smell?"

Ranma rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and smiled. "Uh, could I use your bathroom..? I stayed overnight at the hospital and didn't get a chance to bathe…"

The prophetic senshi looked at Ranma and her ire at the smell faded slightly, the situation easily justified. "Sure, let me take you up there."

As Ranma was led to the furo, the princess smiled mischievously and headed to Rei's room, quickly snagging a couple manga off the floor and sneaking them down the room where the meeting would commence.

Once alone in the restroom Ranma's smile melted away and he sighed. He was pleased that he could make Usagi happy to be certain, but no matter how happy he made her it couldn't stop the sting of knowing he may never talk to his mother again, or at least have her respond. He looked to the mirror and shook his head at the sight. His hair was compressed at an odd angle, matted on one side and all facing one way. His eyes were dreadfully red and covered with the crusty goop that had leaked when he had cried in the night. Two trails could be easily made out on his cheeks, where the tears washed away the dirt, leaving him appearing quite… well, quite ugly.

With a quick mental command his armor and cape began to glow, slowly at first but quickly gathering light. Small coronas of electricity started running across his body, leaping from point to point at random intervals before the whole suit seemed to lose consistency, the matter turning into energy and sliding along his body like liquid and down his arms. The energy like substance traced his muscles and made him appear even more defined, before it seeped into the bracers on his arms, disappearing from sight altogether.

He smiled in spite of himself. "Always thought that was a neat trick." He muttered, remembering when he had crafter it in the past. He had help creating the armor and bracers, his immunity to magic ended up being more of a hindrance than a boon at this point, but luckily his "father," the scientist who had lead the project in creating him, had helped him craft the armor and bracers using the finest technology on the Moon, some of which even the queen herself had not seen.

He quickly stripped from his black Chinese clothes, tossing them aside in the corner of the dressing room before sliding the door open and beginning to fill the furo.

The King of Storms washed himself quickly, still reveling in the fact that he could wash in cold water rather easily, not needing to fear the curse any longer. After a quick, but much needed lather he turned off the water and prepared to take a little dip into the furo to help calm him.

Several voices echoed from some distance off however, and he couldn't help but break out into a smile and laugh.

"Damnit Usagi give me my manga back!"

"B-but Rei! I don't have this issue yet!"

"Then go out and buy it!"

"W-why are you so mean to me!" What followed was the sounds of sobbing and a rather loud set of whining about mean girls.

Ranma let himself sink into the furo's rather hot waters, reveling in the feelings as all of his muscles seemed to just melt into putty upon contact, giving him some much needed relaxation.

When he heard the others start to arrive he drained the furo and exited, redressing into the black clothing he had before, pausing to sniff them and deciding they would do, but he should likely change tomorrow. He decided against summoning his armor, it would be pointless for what was coming ahead.

Using a towel to dry his still untied hair, Ranma entered the room where a majority of the inners had gathered, and the outers still had yet to arrive.

"Ranma!" Makoto shouted as she saw him, rising to her feet.

Ranma gave her and Ami a weak smile, noting that Minako was still missing. "Heya Makoto."

"Are you alright? I thought for sure you'd be with your mom…" She said, looking rather worried.

He gave her a nod. "I spent the night there and Usagi got me this morning… I couldn't just sit around there; it'd only make it worse."

"We are really sorry about your mom, Ranma…" Ami started, but Ranma cut her off.

"Don't worry about it."

"But if we had been there then we could have-"

Ranma shook his head. "No, this was my fault… I don't worry about it okay?" Ami nodded, still skeptical but deciding to let the subject drop. "Anyway… where are Minako and the others?"

Rei shrugged. "They should be here soon and- Usagi! Give me that!"

Usagi clutched the little book to her chest and shook her head. "Nuh uh! I'm right at the good part Rei!"

"I haven't even read that one yet!"

"Well I'm at the part where the guy-"

"DON'T GIVE IT AWAY!" Rei shouted, putting her hands over her ears.

"Did I miss something or- Ranma!" A new voice stated, and it was revealed to be Minako as she entered the room. "Are you okay?"

Ranma gave her a smile and a nod, still struggling to get all the water out of his hair, 'The only trouble with long hair…' Ranma groused in his mind as he combated with the watery menace that had soaked into his hair.

The outers soon followed Minako, arriving as a group. They too fussed over Ranma and asked if he was alright and how his mother was doing, which was truly begin to irritate him. He answered curtly as he had before several times already before fumbling around with his hair in an attempt to get it into his signature pig-tail.

"Here Ranma, I'll help!" Hotaru cheerfully supplied, taking a seat behind Ranma and beginning to braid his hair.

The male senshi sputtered as she began to do so, thinking back to the dream he had had in school that day, of the ball in the palace all those years ago. The Saturn from back then was older and more mature looking than this one, though Ranma didn't complain. He admitted that she was rather lovely, in both her past life and her current one, but knew that it wouldn't do anything good at this point.

Hotaru hummed happily, heat pooling in her cheeks as she caressed and stroked Ranma's hair. She marveled at it's softness as she braided it into the familiar pig-tail she had seen him wear whenever he was around.

More than one of girls present were not pleased, eyeing Hotaru rather angrily.

Setsuna especially seemed to be rather upset at this, and rightfully so. It was her fiancée that this girl was taking care of. Her thoughts froze however when she remembered his words from yesterday filtered through her mind. 'He said that the engagements were off… but, could that mean..?'

"Ranma?" Setsuna finally managed to get out, drawing his attention. "About yesterday…"

"I told you already it ain't your fault." Ranma tersely answered, rather sick of this line of questioning.

"No not that… it's about what you said, the engagements being off?"

Ranma gazed at her for a few moments before looking away, his face devoid of any emotion. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Did… did you really mean that?"

Ranma pursed his lips for a second. The eyes of most of the senshi were on him now, the question Setsuna had asked being on their minds as well. It could after all make the whole situation wide open as "Ranma season" would officially be in session.

"Setsuna… in my past life you hated me. You called me a freak and an abomination… you belittled me and claimed that I was nothing more than a weapon to be used, not a real person..." His eyes turned up to her own, sapphires meeting rubies. "And now you're acting the complete opposite… fawning over me and stuff… it doesn't make sense…"

"I had time to think about Ranma, I realized I was wrong, I realiz-"

Ranma shook his head and she silenced. "Setsuna… I just don't see how that could be, I…" He looked for the words, though the senshi of Pluto had a feeling that she knew what was coming. "I don't want to be engaged. I want to choose who I want to marry out of love, not out of an agreement. My mother made the engagement for publicity, to try and make the population more welcoming for me, and you just turned it around and shoved it in my face."

Tears pooled in Setsuna's eyes, and the scouts could only watch stunned as she turned and ran out of the room with tears trailing down her cheeks.

Mixed feelings filled the room. Minako, Makoto and Hotaru were all relieved that Ranma was now open game, but they couldn't help but feel for Setsuna as well. She had made it clear the extent of her feelings for the young man, and he had just rejected her.

Ranma cursed himself rather loudly, making Ami blush as he rushed after her, startling Hotaru who had been sitting behind him.

"Harsh." Haruka stated, to which Neptune smacked her arm and frowned at her.

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She had collapsed in the yard outside the temple, on her knees and sobbing. She had changed Damnit! She had! Why couldn't Ranma see that? She loved him; she loved him so very much. The senshi frowned as his words came back to her. What he had said was true though. When the engagement was announced, she had been outraged, cursing and belittling the boy, constantly pointing out his heritage.

'Damnit Setsuna… you fool…' She thought.

"Se-chan…"

Ranma's pet name for her and his soft voice pierced through her self loathing and she stiffened up as his footsteps grew closer.

"Se-chan, hear me out-"

"No! Ranma… you're right. I mistreated you horribly, and I'm so sorry… but I've been thinking about it ever since the Silver Millennium, I've had so much time to realize my mistakes, can't you see that I really do love you?"

She was silenced when one of his fingers was placed on her lips. He looked at her with sad eyes and shook his head.

"That may be Setsuna, but I have other reasons for breaking off the engagement."

She looked at him, confused as to his reasons.

"All my life, this life at least, I've had obligations thrust upon me by my mother and father… Setsuna, for once I'd just like to choose for myself, let my heart guide me instead of some agreement." Hope sparkled in her eyes as Ranma smiled. "I'm not saying that I'm not going to marry you, or that I don't have feelings for you… I just want to marry because I actually feel for the woman, not because I have some promise to keep… okay?"

Setsuna nodded, her lips still held shut by his finger.

"I haven't forgotten about the things you said and did in the past, but that doesn't mean I'm not willing to start over…" He shifted the finger off of her lips to wipe the tears from her eyes, smiling at her beauty. "Would you like to start over Setsuna?"

Setsuna nodded and smiled. "I think I'd like that."

Ranma returned her smile and spoke. "Good. Come on, the rest of the scouts are probably wondering what's going on. Setsuna followed closely behind Ranma, eager to start her relationship anew with Ranma. She had messed up in the past, but she would be damned if she lost him again.

They reentered the room, and the senshi seemed surprised that Setsuna had a smile on her face and the tears were gone. Her eyes were red, indicating that she had cried, but apparently they had remedied their predicament.

"You guys get engaged again?" Michiru asked, wondering why Setsuna was smiling.

Ranma shook his head in the negative. "No, but I told her that just because it's off doesn't mean we can't get married. I just told her that I want to marry out of love, not for some promise that was made.

A collective love struck sigh was let off and Ranma himself sighed, though his was in exasperation.

"So, what now?" Haruka asked. "I mean, your moms in the hospital so what're we going to do?"

"I'm going to do." Ranma corrected. He raised his hand at several of the senshi's protest. "Let me finish. My ex-fiancées are my responsibility; I need to show them that I won't put up with this shit anymore. They hurt my mom, maybe permanently, and I need them to realize that that just doesn't sit will with me. I know you girls want to help, but I need to do this alone, to get some closure on my old life."

"So… what?"

"Tomorrow I'm going to Nerima to settle this once and for all." Ranma stated, his eyes glowing slightly as his anger rose in a thought of his old fiancées.

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Chapter 10, complete and ready.

Not really a cliffhanger hear (GASP) I know I know, I felt like giving you guys a break for once Once. This chapter is where the real dark stuff started, though next chapter it'll become really apparent. I had planned on this being longer, but I figured that I'd dedicate this chapter to Ranma dealing with his mom's coma and working with his own feelings on that. It may seem OOC to some of you for Ranma to break down like that, but I think that with the memories of his past life combined with the fact of watching his MOTHER of all people get knocked out like that would be easily justifiable. Next chapter will introduce the first one possessed by the shades and the resulting fight, and most likely the conclusion. This is more of a subdued chapter, to compensate for the fact that the next few will be mostly fighting as the story starts to wrap up. The story has maybe 5 chapters left in it, give or take.

I also need to get some info, I received a beautiful piece of fanart some time ago (okay, a long time) and I forgot to save the e-mail with it! I saved the picture, and love the style and way it's been done, however I did not record the artists name. (D'oh!) I want to post it on my fanficchallenge site, but I refuse to post it without giving credit where it's due, gimme an e-mail and I'll post it up with the artist's name.

As always, I can be reached from one of my three e-mails SyrhkN(at)gmail(dot)com gundraw(at)msn(dot)com or sirhcsirron(at)hotmail(dot)com My g-mail and msn e-mails are the most commonly checked, so if you want a response try there first. Thanks for supporting me despite the long overdue update for the story, but I'm still going strong.

And for those who read the last C&C chapter, sorry about the lack of breaks in between scenes, I put some in but the formatting gets all screwy when you upload it to the site, a real pain to be sure. To see the original work how it's supposed to be viewed, go to my website.

Till next time

Chris "Gundraw" Norris


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